Delilah's Vengeance
by rbrooks25
Summary: Sequel to Oberon's Gift. Delilah resorts to extraordinary means to get revenge upon Demona and the Manhattan clan for the death of Thailog. (If you have not read my first book yet I apologize for the minor spoiler.). (Book 2 of the Armageddon series.)
1. Prologue

Delilah sat in her lair brooding as she did most nights since the death of her mate. Looking around she growled in disgust as she surveyed the mess. _It would be better if we lived in a cave._ She thought to herself bitterly. She stood to go back to her room when she suddenly felt cold and wrapped her wings around herself to fight off the chill.

"It would appear that we share a common enemy." Delilah turned quickly and saw an old man walk out of the shadows he was wearing a black suit and tie. He leaned heavily on his cane. He had white hair and a well-trimmed goatee. His face however appeared to be that of a young man. There was not a single wrinkle to be found and his blue eye's shined too bright to belong to an elderly human.

"You're very brave. I'll give you credit for that old timer, but breaking into my lair is the last mistake you'll ever make." Delilah leapt forward to attack. She gasped in surprise as she found herself flying backwards until she hit the wall at the back of the room. She tried to leap again but found that she couldn't move. Chuckling the stranger slowly made his way up to her.

"I understand that you're living in a hole, but your manners leave much to be desired." He said as he made a chair appear in front of her. He sat down and studied her for a few minutes. The intense gaze began to annoy Delilah and she growled again as she began to fight her invisible bonds.

"What do you want old man? We have nothing here of value to you." She stated angrily has her eyes began to glow a bright white.

"You're not a full gargoyle are you?" He asked as he studied her. She growled at that, but he continued on. "No, you're at least part human aren't you? That's marvelous; I really must congratulate Dr. Sevarius on his achievement."

"Let me down from here, or I swear I'll…" Delilah began.

"…You'll what? I think I would enjoy seeing what you have in mind. Sadly, though I do not have much time." He waved his hand and Delilah found that she could move. She growled again, but did not try and attack.

"You still haven't told me what you want?" Delilah pointed out as she pulled up a chair across from him and sat down waiting for him to reply.

"Yes, I have." He grinned at her for a moment. "We have the same enemy. Where are my manners?" He asked as he rose to his feet and reached his hand out to her. "The name is Derrick, and I am here to help you catch Demona."

Delilah laughed at that. "Catch her? Who said I wanted to catch her?" She looked at him seriously for a moment. "I want her dead."

"I know you do, but you need to look at the big picture. She made you suffer by taking away your mate. Don't you think it would be fitting to make her watch as you take away hers in return?"

Delilah took his hand and grinned wickedly as they shook on their new arrangement.

"I will contact you with the details soon." With a bright flash the old man vanished and Delilah stood there watching the spot where he had been standing for a moment before she headed off to her room.

"If this is a trick old man nothing will stop me from tearing you apart." She grinned as she walked inside her room and waited for sunrise. Her room was very small it contained only a table, a set of shelves, and a statue shaped like Thailog. Over the years she had grown into the habit of talking to it.

"Soon, my love, soon we will have our revenge." She said as she kissed the stone statue just before the sun rose outside turning her to stone herself.


	2. Chapter 1: A Visit From an Old Friend

Adela sat high above the ground on one of the battlements of Castle Wyvern overlooking the play yard the gargoyles had constructed for the hatchlings. As she did most nights since returning to the clan she watched the other's and attempted to fit in as best she could. _Sometimes I miss being on my own._ She thought as she watched her son Drake playing with Brooklyn and Katana's daughter Sion. Sion is a little shorter than Drake, but is also much more agile. Sion was a dark red color with her mother's black hair.

"They look like their enjoying themselves." Brooklyn said as he sat next to Adela and handed her a drink.

"They are." She confirmed. "Brooklyn, I've been meaning to speak with you about putting me on the roster for the patrols."

Brooklyn studied her for a moment. "We've discussed this."

"No, you talked and I listened. I understood your concerns, but I feel that even after all I have done to prove myself to the clan that I will never earn your trust." Adela said as she looked into his eyes as she spoke.

"It's not going to happen until I am comfortable with it." He said his tone growing cold as he began to stand.

"Very well" Adela rose with him. "I will make sure Goliath stays here with me as well. I'm sure you all can handle the patrols by yourselves."

"You swore to me that you would not interfere with my duties." Brooklyn nearly shouted.

"And I will not, but you have him scheduled away so much that I rarely get to see him. So, I will bring that to his attention and I am certain that he will want to stay here more often." Adela smirked at Brooklyn as it appeared his face was going even redder.

"I'll see what I can do about getting you time away from the castle." Brooklyn sighed deeply.

"That's all I ask. Thank you, Brooklyn." Adela said as she glided down to where the hatchlings were playing.

Brooklyn watched her for a moment more and then walked off. As Adela landed next to where the two hatchlings were tossing a baseball back and forth she noticed that the rookery door was left open.

"Drake, how many times have I told you to keep that door shut?" Adela eyed him sternly as she went to shut the door. When she began to close it she felt a chill coming from inside which was unusual because it was normally kept hot inside the rookery to keep the hatchlings warm.

 _What's going on in here?_ Adela thought has she slowly entered the rookery looking around for any sign of what was causing the temperature to drop.

Adela gasped upon looking around the rookery has she discovered all the eggs had been cracked open and drained. "Who could have done this?" She asked as she continued to search for any survivors.

A rustling sound came from further into the room and as she got closer she discovered Hudson lying face down on the ground and Bronx was next to him struggling to stand. She quickly turned him over and checked for a pulse. _Thank heavens_ she thought as she felt it and she slowly turned him over. Hudson's eyes opened suddenly and turned her direction.

"i…I'm sorry Lass. I couldn't stop…him." Hudson barely managed to get the last word out before passing out again. She lifted Hudson and began to carry him out and then turned her head to Bronx.

"Sorry boy, I can only carry one of you at a time." Adela said as she stepped out of the rookery. Has she stepped out she stared in shock at the spot the two hatchlings had been playing catch. In their place stood two human looking children but they had a gaseous appearance.

"You should never have left us mommy." The young boy spirit spoke first. He was slightly taller than the female and he had red hair and dark black eyes. He stood about five feet tall.

"What did we do to make you leave?" The female spirit asked. She also had red hair but her eyes were a bright red color.

Hudson's eyes flung open and he stared at Adela with completely white eyes has he gripped her arm. "It's your fault Demona. You did this to us." He loosened his grip on her slowly as he became limp in her arms and then disappeared.

Suddenly, everyone around her disappeared and she heard footsteps coming towards her. She turned to see Derrick approaching her.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my son?" She asked menacingly as her eyes flared red.

"You don't remember me? That would break my heart if I still had one." He laughed as he walked closer to her. As he got near Adela went to attack but realized she couldn't move. "We have a lot of catching up to do, but to start with my name is Derrick, Derrick Galant, your betrothed."

"I don't know you. I never would have been involved with something like you." Adela shouted as she tried to break free.

"Are you sure about that. You see I know all about you. I know more than Goliath, more than your daughter, and now more than you. You and I were going to end this pathetic world together."

Adela backed away as Derrick reached for her.

"There's no escape. You were meant to be my bride." Derrick grinned as he grabbed her forearm and began to drag her with him.

"Ahh!" Derrick screamed suddenly as he released his grip on Adela. Adela gasped as she saw Goliath''s fist protruding through Derrick''s chest.

"This isn't over. You cannot abandon your family that easy." Derrick said as he vanished.

"My love, I'm so glad you got here when you did." Adela said as she tried to hug him. Goliath backed away.

"Just more secrets from the devious Demona. I should have known better than to trust you again." Goliath said bitterly as he began to walk away.

"No, wait. Please, let me explain." Adela begged.

Goliath just began to disappear.

"Please" Adela yelled.

"I said I would look into it Adela. You don't need to shout." Adela looked around and saw that she was still on the battlements with Brooklyn.

"Oh, right I'm sorry." Adela said as she stood slowly. She had a headache and just wanted to get back to her room

"Are you alright?" Brooklyn asked worried about her sudden change.

"I'll be fine. Thank you. I just need to be alone." She said as she stumbled to the entrance to the castle.

Back in Delilah's lair Derrick stood unsteady on his feet.

"So, did it work?" Delilah asked from the doorway.

"No" He replied irritably.

"Big surprise. I knew you were full of shit." She said rolling her eyes. Then she gasped as Derrick appeared in front of her and held her by the throat.

"It's rude to curse and roll your eyes at someone. The reason it did not succeed my dear little beast is because some how her soul is guarded. She and the other creature have been unified and I cannot attack either of them this way. So, we will just have to do this the old fashioned way." He grinned wickedly as he loosened his grip on her.

Delilah glared at him as she tried to catch her breath.

"We need to put together an army. Get your things together we're going out now." Derrick said as he turned to leave the lair.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she grabbed her jacket and tried to catch up.

"To visit an old friend." Was his only reply.

...Meanwhile back at Castle Wyvern Adela made it to her room and Goliath was inside reading a book. He looked up and noticed she was about to fall over. He rushed over and caught her.

"Adela, what's wrong?" Goliath asked concerned.

"I have a secret, and I need to tell you. I just hope that you will still love me once I do." Adela said holding his hands tight in her own.

Our love is eternal my Angel." Goliath stated as he smiled warmly trying to comfort her. He was worried however about what was bothering her.

"I hope so...Okay, my love I will start at the beginning." She gripped his hands tighter and as her eyes began tearing up she began to speak.


	3. Chapter 2: Delilah's Army

When the car pulled up outside of X-Gen Labs Derrick tipped the driver and stepped out with Delilah.

"What are we doing here?" Delilah asked as he held the door open for her as she stepped inside.

"I already told you. We're here to visit a friend." He said as he walked into the main lobby. "Ah, there he is now." Delilah noticed that a man was walking up to them, and as he came into the light she saw it was Dr. Sevarius.

"Derrick, it's good to see you my old friend, and you brought my favorite creation with you." He grinned as he reached out his hand to him. As the doctor greeted Derrick he eyed Delilah in a way that began to make her uncomfortable.

"Are they ready yet?" Derrick asked pulling Sevarius's attention back to him.

"They are nearing completion now; however the improved Thailog clone is taking a little longer than anticipated." Sevarius said as he went back to studying Delilah.

"If you would like to keep those eyes in your head old man, I suggest you stare someplace else." Delilah growled.

"Remember your manners young one." Derrick said firmly.

"I did, that's why he still has his eyes…for now." Derrick glared at her a moment and then turned his attention back to Sevarius.

"Yes, well…This way please." Sevarius lead them down a long corridor to the back of the building. They turned into what appeared to be a dead end, but after Sevarius put his hand on the wall it began to glow bright blue and then vanished. The three continued into the lab. Inside of large tubes next to the walls were creatures of every species hanging suspended animation. They walked to the back of the lab and through a door at the back that led to an enormous warehouse filled it seemed to capacity with gargoyles of every shape and color. They found themselves standing on a ledge with a rail looking down on them.

 _There must be thousands of clones in here._ Delilah thought as she continued to look over the room.

On the ledge with them was another tube containing Thailog.

Delilah walked up to the tube and studied it suspiciously. "How did you bring him here?" She asked as she continued to look over the features of the gargoyle in the tube. Then she took a closer look. "This isn't him. His scars are gone." She growled as her eyes began to glow white.

"Of course not, the Thailog you knew is dead. A friend of mine was able to retrieve enough genetic material that I was able to put together another clone. The other gargoyles in your clan were willing to allow me to use their genetic material to create the army you see below us." Sevarius stated as he crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at her.

"Why are all of these clones immobile?" Derrick asked suddenly.

"I haven't implanted them with their personalities yet, and besides I had to wait for you to bring her so I could introduce the army to their new queen." He pointed out as he hooked a hose up to Thailog's tube and the three watched as the liquid drained from the tube and as the tube opened a set of giant pincers came down to pick the clone up and place it standing in front of the rail next to Delilah.

"You may want to stand back my dear." Derrick said as he grabbed her arm to pull her back away from the railing.

As they backed away from the railing Delilah was deep in thought over what Sevarius had told them.

"What do you mean by improved?" She asked suddenly.

"He's stronger and faster than he was before. He was also fed all of the memories from the original Thailog excluding his death of course." Sevarius stated as he typed a command on his key board and she saw as the room filled with lightning as it shot from the pylons on the ceiling to the gargoyles below. Delilah grinned as she watched her new army being brought to life.

 _Soon...very soon. We will have our revenge._

Derrick leaned close to whisper to Sevarius. "You did ensure that all of my instructions were carried out I assume." Sevarius just nodded.

"Good, once they have done what we need you know what to do." Sevarius nodded again and Derrick grinned wickedly as he watched the first stirrings of the gargoyles below.

Delilah looked over her shoulder at Sevarius for a moment and then asked "Who was the friend that retrieved the genetic material?"

"Xanatos retrieved them for me and charged a fortune to do it, but it was worth it." Sevarius sighed as he thought of the cost.

...Meanwhile outside there were two clicks from a camera.

"Tell me again why I am here." Jason said as he took another picture of the car Derrick and Delilah had pulled up in. This time he made sure to get the license plate.

"Again, I'm sorry to call you out here. I know Dallas is a long way away, but I needed backup and since it involves Liz's old friends I thought you would be the safest option." Matt Bluestone stated as he walked up to Jason.

"Why didn't you call Liz?" Jason asked as he snapped another picture this time of the building.

"I thought she would still be angry with me and even if she isn't I didn't want her anger and disappointment in Goliath to cloud the investigatio... Get down." He said as he grabbed Jason's arm and pulled him behind a dumpster.

"What are you doing?" Jason whispered fiercely as he pulled his arm away.

"Get a picture of them." Matt responded. Jason looked where Matt was pointing and quickly snapped a picture. Derrick turned his head and grinned at them before stepping into the car with Delilah.

When the car drove away they both hurried to Matt's undercover car and drove back to his apartment.

"What the hell?" Jason exclaimed as he checked out the last picture he took. The picture appeared to be of Derrick and Delilah, but Jason could swear that he could see an image of a skull where Derrick's head was and a transparent robe around his suit.

"This may be bigger than I thought." Matt said as they arrived at his apartment. They quickly headed in and as they walked in the door Jason nearly fell back as he received a hard slap from Elisa.


	4. Chapter 3: Secrets and Lies

"Nice to see you to, Liz." Jason said as he rubbed his sore cheek.

"You lied to me. You said you were going to Boston on a quick training op and yet I found you here. Did you really think you could keep this from me?" Elisa yelled as she rounded on Matt. "And you. I want to know what is going on here Matt, and I want to know now."

"Would you like to have a seat? This is quite a long story." Matt said as he went to the kitchen to make coffee for the three of them. "If you're hungry I'm sure I can whip something up."

"No, I just want an explanation." She said as she sat on his couch. Looking around the room she was surprised by how clean it was the last time she visited Matt he had pizza boxes and laundry everywhere. This time though it appeared as though he spent a great amount of time cleaning. The glass coffee table was shiny and showed reflections. The blue couch, love seat, and recliner looked brand new along with the white shag carpet on the ground that spanned the entire apartment. The kitchen area was remodeled so it was open with only a custom made bar separating the kitchen from the dining room. At the bar were several stools and bright lights above each one. The kitchen itself looked as clean as a floor model from a hardware store, and finally the dining area had a large wooden table that could sit up to eight people and was polished to the point the wood showed reflections. Elisa's favorite part about Matt's new apartment was the outside wall was now glass. It gave an amazing view of the city and you could see the colors from the sunset for miles around. Right now, however Elisa was too upset to think about any of those things.

"Liz, we thought it would be best if I helped with the investigation into Sevarius's activities because his mutation work typically draws the attention of our friends." Jason sighed and studied her reaction before continuing on. "With your complicated relationship with Goliath..."

"My relationships have nothing to do with this. You lied to me. How can I trust you when you won't tell me the truth?" Elisa stood as if to leave, but Jason quickly got in front of her.

"I wanted to protect you, and I knew Bluestone well enough to know that if he said it should stay between us then he would be correct." Jason held onto her shoulders and looked her in the eyes then. "I swear I will tell you everything from now on."

Elisa sighed and then hugged him close. "You had better. I need to feel like we are a team no matter what." As they parted she looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry I overreacted I know you wouldn't hurt me, but after all of the secrets Goliath kept from me I guess I'm on edge and seeing threats where I shouldn't."

"It's alright, I should have been honest. On that note, here is what we have discovered so far…"

…"I can't believe you lied to me. Not just to me but to the entire clan." Goliath's eyes were glowing white and he was pacing around the room.

"I'm sorry my love. I never intended to hurt you. I didn't even know for certain myself that it was real until I had my vision of the rookery." Adela said as she tried to fight back the tears that were coming. Goliath sat back down and looked her in the eyes.

"You swear to me that you did not know any of it was real until recently?" Goliath asked as he looked into her eyes.

"Yes my love, I swear to you that I did not know. Now, that I do I want to fight my destiny and I need your help. Together, I know that we can make it through anything." Adela said as Goliath wrapped her in his arms and wings and just held her for a minute. "What will we tell everyone?" Adela asked suddenly as Goliath felt her shiver in fear.

"I will handle it." Goliath stated firmly as he released her.

"Are you certain? It is the mess that I made and I want to help put an end to it." Adela said as they went to leave their chambers.

"It is the mess Demona created. You are no longer her, and do not have all of the knowledge of things that she has done. We will fix this together, but I alone will bring this news to the clan. I trust you my angel, but the others will need to hear this from me first before you speak to them." Goliath pointed out.

"I understand, thank you for trusting me, I'm just concerned because she was me, I was her, or I am her. I don't know, but I swear that I have changed." Adela said as she hugged him again before leaving.

 _I couldn't do otherwise. I refuse to let my angel go again._ Goliath thought as he followed her out. "I know you have my love."

As Delilah and Derrick made it back to her lair she rounded on him. "What are you? You still haven't told me the truth, and I cannot continue to work with you on this unless I can trust you." Delilah said as he smiled at her for a moment.

"Perhaps you do have a point. This will be your army after all, and if I am to expect you to act like a queen to them I can't expect you to behave as a serving girl now." He waved his hand and two chairs appeared facing each other. "You are correct in your assumption that I am not human."

"Then what are you?" Derrick gave her a disapproving look for the interruption but continued on.

"First, you need to understand that I am old, very old and very powerful in ways that you cannot yet comprehend. Whether you believe that or not is inconsequential." He said in response to the look that Delilah was giving him.

"Then how old are you?" She asked curiously as she leaned forward to listen to his story.

"I've lost track. Many new universes have formed and fallen apart since my siblings and I came into existence." Derrick stated as his eyes began to focus on something past her. It took her a few moments to see that he was remembering.

"Did I lose you?" Delilah asked as she became uncomfortable with the sudden silence.

"No, my apologies I was remembering the glory days." Derrick said as he twisted his ring for a moment.

"I still don't understand what you are." Delilah growled impatiently.

"Death, I am the one known as Death." He said casually as he went back to his ring.

"Like a reaper?" Delilah asked confused.

"Think more biblical. Here's a hint. I have three siblings who are very anxious to throw this world its going away party." He grinned at her as he pulled out a box and has he opened it Delilah saw three beautiful rings. She couldn't identify where they came from or even what they were made out of, The first was a red ring with runes written on the sides and was topped with a ruby, the second was a greenish color and was topped with an emerald. It too had writing down its side, but it was different than the ruby ring. The third was unlike the others. It was a pale yellow color and had no runes on it but an amethyst that appeared to be a decaying yellow color sat on top. The final ring was missing from the box and was on Death's hand. It was a pure white ring with dark black writing on the inside of the band that was only noticeable when Derrick removed it. And it was topped with what appeared to be a pearl but upon looking closer the inside of the gem had a white gaseous substance that swirled around.

Delilah looked at him skeptically for a moment and then she burst out laughing. "You really expect me to believe that you are the Horseman of Death?"

Derrick shut the box and glared at her. "Maybe I was mistaken. You are not as strong as Demona. A shame I thought you had potential."

"What does she have to do with this?" Delilah asked as her eyes began to glow white.

"Oh, she didn't tell you?" He asked in mock surprise. "She was my first. She was my bride. She and I tore this world nearly asunder nearly five hundred years ago, and I wanted her by my side, but sadly she has changed. I thought you would be a fitting replacement." He said as he began to put the box away.

"I can do anything she can." Delilah snarled angrily as she leapt to her feet.

"Then prove it. Grow the fuck up and put on the ring and take her place by my side." Derrick said as he re-opened the box and Delilah took the red ring without hesitating. It began to glow a bright red as it seemed to liquefy and float around her right ring finger until it solidified and looked the same as it had in the box except it had shrunk to fit her finger. Delilah then screamed in pain as her wings grew larger and two spikes grew out of the top tips of her wings and her claws grew longer and she grew a foot taller. The rest of her body looked the same except her eyes now were glowing red instead of white and her fangs and claws were longer as well.

After the change Delilah studied her new features for a few minutes as Derrick came to stand next to her. How are you feeling now Delilah, the new Horseman of War?" Delilah smiled and turned quickly and punched Derrick with so much force he went through the wall across the room.

"I'm feeling much better." Delilah grinned to herself as she watched Derrick emerge from the rubble.

"I should have seen that coming." Derrick grinned as he walked over to the box and closed it back up. "You get one. If you do that again I will tear your head off." He said smirking at her.

"Just testing out my new strength" Delilah grinned as she flexed her muscles as she stretched out her arms.

…"So, you suspect that Sevarius is growing a new Thailog?" Elisa asked in shock.

"We need to find more proof, but yes that is the theory. We know that Xanatos flew the body to Sevarius's lab and received a large sum of cash in return." Matt said as he sipped at his coffee.

"But why would Xanatos help him. I thought he left all of this behind." Elisa asked as she set her coffee down as she got up and began to pace the room. It was a habit she had grown accustomed to as a child whenever she was deep in thought.

"We haven't discovered a motive other than financial as of yet." Jason stated.

"Still, we should contact Owen and see if he knows anything." Elisa said as she continued to walk back and forth looking outside and thinking how lovely the sunset was and wishing she could just enjoy the view.

"Alright, I'll talk to…" Jason began.

"No, I'll go." Elisa said as she walked back to them. "I do know him better now, and besides maybe it's time I let everyone know I'm back, even if it is for just a short while."

…"No, absolutely not!" Brooklyn yelled at Goliath. Goliath was explaining to both Brooklyn and Hudson what had happened to Adela, and Brooklyn wanted to use this as the reason to exile her.

"Why not Lad, if what she says is true then we have the most dangerous enemy we have ever faced already standing at our doorstep." Hudson pointed out.

"Are you both insane. She hasn't changed. She will never change." Brooklyn threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"We didn't listen when she was possessed by the Arch-mage. If we do not now then we could be dooming ourselves to a worse fate than we imagined." Goliath stated.

"A Horseman of the Apocalypse? You really believe that the Arch-Mage had her turned into one of those things over five centuries ago so she could plague the planet and then they disappeared and yet she stayed behind?" Brooklyn shouted in his frustration.

"We need to investigate this but I am not going into it assuming that my angel is lying to me. We brought this news to you as a courtesy." Goliath stated firmly.

"How am I supposed to trust you now?" He asked turning on Adela.

"You can take comfort in the fact I haven't tried to take your position or kill you when your back was turned." Adela said as her eyes flared red. Brooklyn growled at that.

"Lass, I know that you believe what you're saying but is there any chance that perhaps this didn't happen?" Hudson asked trying to get them to calm down.

"Once I had the vision everything else that I have done became clear as if I did it yesterday." Adela said sadly.

"We can't trust her. She is of no value to the clan if there is no trust." Brooklyn said to Goliath as he pointed at Adela.

"Of no value? Did I shrink and turn red. Oh, my gosh has my hair gone white?" Brooklyn looked as though he would attack if Goliath and Hudson were not present in the room.

"That's enough. Tomorrow we look into Adela's claims and we'll start with Puck. He should be able to get to the bottom of whatever is happening here." Goliath said as he grabbed Adela's forearm and they both turned to leave.

"My angel, I need you to show my second more respect, and yes before you say anything I will speak to him again about his attitude towards you. When you disrespect my second you also disrespect me as when he does by disrespecting you. So, you see I get attacked three times every time you two attack eachother." Goliath pointed out.

"I will try and do better my love." Adela said as she cuddled close to him as they walked.

"Lad, she is improving. Why are you the only one who cannot see that?" Hudson asked.

"I can't afford to be wrong. That's why." Brooklyn said as he to left the room.


	5. Chapter 4: WAR

…In the year 1514 _I'm sick of living like a fugitive._ Demona thought to herself bitterly as she was scavenging through yet another abandoned human camp. She picked through the broken tools and the crudely made weapons the humans had tried to defend themselves with.

"Why must we keep destroying these pathetic villages?" Her lieutenant asked as he picked through the rubble. He picked up a girl's body and was shocked at how fragile she felt in his hands. She couldn't have been more than six years old and she appeared to have been kept barely alive even before the attack. He threw her aside in disgust as he continued his search for anything of value.

"I've already explained that. My clan trusted the humans once. We protected their castle at night and they protected us during the day." She picked up a dagger that she found and stabbed it into a small doll that she found. "Then they decided we were no longer welcome and slaughtered the rest of my clan. I only survived because I didn't trust them.

As Demona searched for anything useful she was stunned to find a decorated box in the corner of the medical tent. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she stared at the box for a few moments before she felt compelled to open it. As she opened the box she saw the beautifully crafted rings inside, and marveled at the value of each one.

 _Why would they have let their people live like peasants. These are worth a fortune._ Demona thought as she reached for the red ring. As she touched the ring it floated up and liquefied as it spun around her hand before wrapping itself on her right ring finger and solidifying.

Demona looked around and noticed she was standing inside a grand hall. On each of the walls there were weapons of every make and style, and there were heads from many different creatures. Demona recognized some of them, but she couldn't identify many others.

 _I must be dreaming._ Demona thought as a wine glass next to her filled itself.

"No, you're not dreaming." Demona spun around and noticed a woman enter the room. She was average height for a human but her demeanor and the way she carried herself made her seem much taller. She wore a blood red dress. It came down to her ankles and had a slit that came up to her right thigh. The front of the dress came down to a deep V in the front and came down to just below her breasts. Her raven colored hair contrasted with her tan skin and blue eyes. She walked up to Demona and studied her for a moment.

"You're quite the specimen aren't you?" The woman asked as she continued to study her as she circled around her. "I won't have to make any changes to your outward appearance."

Demona spun around to confront the strange woman. "What do you mean change my appearance? Who are you? How did I get here?" Demona growled as her eyes began to flare red.

"You chose to come to me when you put on my ring." She said as she picked up two glasses of wine from the table and went to hand one to Demona.

"Who are you, and why have you brought me here?" The woman sighed.

"If you keep repeating these questions this will take all day." She said as she walked closer to Demona and held out one of the glasses. "My name is War, and again you came to me."

"What do you want with me?" Demona growled.

"We will be a force to be reckoned with you and I. What I want is to give you the power you require to wipe out your enemies." War smiled

"What would you know about my enemies?" Demona snarled as her eyes flared red.

"The humans, you hate them and so do I. I want to help you wipe them out. The question is, are you willing to accept my help?" War asked as she lifted the glass to Demona. Demona accepted it and they toasted their new union.

"As long as we wipe out all of the humans I will help you." Demona said as they drank the wine.

…"Demona, did you hear me? There are bandits on the way. We need to get out of here. Demona looked at him a moment uncomprehendingly before she slowly rose to her feet.

"We will kill them." Demona said slowly as she picked up the box with the remaining rings.

"That's unnecessary. We can be gone long before they arrive." Demona's second said as he fell into step beside her.

She stopped suddenly and set the box down. "No, you are unnecessary." Demona said as she swung her arm around and backhanded him so hard it turned his head completely around as his body spun in the air three times before it hit the ground. The other gargoyles looked on in stunned silence until Demona rounded on them.

"We have a new mission. We will destroy every human city, we will burn their crops, burn their homes to the ground, and we will kill every last human we find." She let what she said sink in for a moment. "We will start with the bandits who are already coming to us. Get ready." She sat the box down next to her and waited.

The bandits closed in on the camp and began to surround the gargoyles. The leader dismounted his horse and walked up to Demona.

"You destroyed our home." He said menacingly as he drew his sword. Demona looked around and grinned.

"Sorry, it looked like nothing more than a collection of outhouses to us." Demona grinned at him as she watched him shake with rage.

He swung his sword that would have taken off her head but she side stepped the blow. "You killed my family!" He shouted as he went to swing again. Demona caught his sword and broke the blade off as her eyes flared red.

"It was satisfying watching the blood pour from them as they screamed and begged for mercy. My only regret was you weren't here to watch." As she said that she took the blade and drove it through his chest missing his heart. "Oops, I missed. I guess you'll die slowly." She laughed as the other humans were quickly attacked and killed by the other gargoyles.

Demona turned to her army. "Today begins the war to end humanity. We have allowed them to be a scourge on this planet for far too long. If you're with me then go out and find your clans and bring as many has you can back with you. We attack Redgorge tomorrow, and after we burn all of their outer settlements we will take the castle itself as our own. Then we will finish cleansing this planet of these vermin." Her followers cheered as she completed her speech and they began to Collect all of the weapons they could and put them into a wagon they found. When no one was looking Demona stored the box with the rings in the wagon.

 _You need to find a human by the name of Derrick Galant. He is fated to become the new Death._ Demona heard War whisper in her mind.

"A human? You said we would destroy all of the humans." Demona whispered fiercely.

 _And I will keep my word. Once he becomes the new Death he will cease to be human and become so much more. You must do this for our plan to succeed._ Demona growled at that but decided to go along with this for now. _He will come with an army. You will need to recruit them, but do not despair they will die in the coming battle and any who do not you can finish off._ Demona could feel the entity smile in her excitement at the prospect of so much killing.

The gargoyles wagon came over a hill, and arrived at a small farm still several miles from Redgorge.

"Demona, we need to stop soon. It's nearly dawn." Her new lieutenant advised as they arrived.

"Very well, we will hide inside of that shed until sunset." Demona stated as they began to push the wagon inside the shed and found hiding places for the coming dawn.

As dawn approached Demona watched as her new army turned to stone and marveled at the fact that she had not.

"How?" She asked as she looked around and walked outside as she felt the sun on her skin for the first time.

 _You have more power now than you can possibly comprehend. Has long as we are together you have no need for sleep._

"What are you, and why are you on my land?" Demona turned quickly and saw a farmer aiming a pitchfork at her. Even though he was dressed as a peasant he carried himself like a warrior.

Demona just grinned at him as her eyes flared red. "I go where I choose human."

"Well, you're manners are atrocious. My name is Derrick, Derrick Galant and this is my home. Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. What are you doing on my property." Demona was about to attack, but stopped suddenly upon hearing his name.

"I have something for you." She said suddenly as she walked back into the barn. Derrick began to head in as well out of curiosity.

"What's going on out there, Love?" Derrick's wife came out to see what was going on.

"It's nothing dear, Head back into the house. I have everything under control." Derrick smiled at her as he headed into the shed.

Demona retrieved the box and opened it. Inside he saw the rings and quickly came to the conclusion that they could feed his family for a lifetime.

"These look valuable. Why would you give them to me?" He asked suspiciously as he tried to take a closer look.

"You're destined to wear one. As am I." Demona stated as War spoke through her. She held open the box as she continued. "You must choose one, but only one and once you have your destiny will be set in motion."

"I should get back to my wife now. Feel free to use the barn until your friends wake up." Derrick said as he turned to leave. The door to the barn slammed shut, and Derrick turned back around raising his pitchfork again.

"I'm afraid that is not possible." War said as Demona held the box open again. "Your destiny is to join me and complete our mission." War stated calmly.

"What mission is that? I left the king's army years ago. I am nothing but a peaceful farmer now." Derrick said as he stood the pitchfork up in a pile of hay.

"You have it within you to be so much more. You have been chosen. You cannot fight your destiny." War said as Demona again handed over the box.

"If I take one will you leave me alone?" Derrick asked as he looked them over one by one.

"If that is what you desire." War grinned as Derrick picked up the white ring and she watched as it turned into smoke and hovered around his right ring finger before becoming solid again.

Derrick slowly raised his head and his hair and beard turned white while his eyes went from brown to a crystal blue color.

"Hello War, I'm sure you have a good reason for waking me."

"I do my love." War said as she walked up and kissed him.


	6. Chapter 5: War and Death Reunite

As War backed away after the kiss Death looked over his new body.

"Why am I wearing these rags?" He asked as he stripped off the filthy shirt that Derrick had been wearing.

"You? What about me?" War asked as she came up to hug him.

"Well, you are in the form of a beast so it makes sense." Death said as he began to study his surroundings. "I won't find what I need in this barn. Come, we shall search the house." He flung open the barn door and stepped out expecting War to follow.

When they walked into the door Meredith, Derrick's wife came to see what was going on and gasped upon seeing Derrick's new appearance and the gargoyle.

"You didn't tell me he had a lady." Death whispered angrily to War. War just grinned and shrugged.

"What happened to you and who is she?" Meredith asked as she walked up to him to help anyway she could. "Where did you get that?" She asked curiously as she touched the ring.

"I'm very sorry that you did that my dear." Death said as her body began to decay before their eyes. Within a matter of minutes her body turned to dust and scattered on the floor. "Come War we must get moving." he said as he began to climb the stairs to the upper level of the house.

When they reached Derrick and Meredith's bedroom Death searched the closet for a few minutes before sighing and picking out a green shirt and brown leggings. After he finished dressing he found the pair of boots Derrick usually wore into town and put those on.

"Come War, we must hurry." Death said as he began to leave the room.

"What about me?" She said while looking through Meredith's wardrobe.

"What about you? You're a beast remember?" Derrick chuckled as he began to walk down the stairs. War just growled as she flung the dresses down and followed Death down the stairs and then outside.

"Very well, if you want the beast here she is." War said as they reached the barn.

"I was informed that you would help me conquer Redgorge and then the world. Where is this army that we must recruit?" Demona asked as Derrick began to pack supplies in a wagon. They discussed the plan until the sun went down and the other gargoyles began to awaken from their sleep.

"Who is this Demona?" Her lieutenant asked as he walked up to Derrick.

"He is an ally for now." She said offhandedly as she began to give out the food they had taken from inside the house.

"Are you certain we can trust him?" He asked as they began to attach the wagons to the horses. There were two horses per wagon.

"No, but until we take Redgorge we have no choice." Demona whispered as the wagons rolled down the road.

Death leaned over to her then. "You never have need to fear me my dear." He said as he handed her a white rose. Demona studied it for a moment in shock when he went further and placed his lips on hers in a gentle kiss. Demona was shocked at how good it felt to her. She found herself wrapping her arms around him and returning the kiss and ignoring the looks of disgust from her lieutenant as the wagons rolled on.

The closer the wagons came to the first encampment Death wanted to recruit the more Demona was certain that she was falling in love with him. She couldn't understand what it was that was drawing her to him and she wanted it to stop, but the more she fought it the more she fell for him. Demona didn't realize it at the time, but she was sharing a symbiotic relationship with War which was fueling her feelings for him.

As they reached the encampment Death stepped off of the wagon to speak to Derrick's old comrades. Demona stepped off with him and held his hand as they approached the camp. As they got close to the first tent a large man with a scar running down the side of his face and wearing a suit of heavy steel armor came out to greet them.

"Lad, it's good to see you again my friend." The man came up to shake his hand and stared perplexed at Demona. "Whose the beast and why did you bring it here." Demona growled at that has her eyes flared red.

"HER name is Demona, and she is soon to be my wife so have a care how you speak." Death stated calmly but his eyes showed a fury that made the man step back. Demona looked at him in surprise at that then grinned at the man as she cuddled closer to him. "Garion, I would like to introduce you properly to my betrothed. Demona, this is my best friend and fighting companion Garion."

"Nice to meet you." Garion said hesitantly as he held out his hand.

"You as well." Demona replied as they shook hands.

"What can I do for you Derrick?" Garion asked as he helped to unpack the wagons.

"We mean to sack Redgorge to help my beloved and her friends here." Death said as he and Garion carried a crate to one of the supply tents.

"Are you mad? Have you been there recently? They are well fortified my friend. I don't have the man power to take on a force that size." Garion said as he began plotting a plan in his mind.

"My new friends will be a great asset in the coming battle." Death said as he gestured to the gargoyles.

"Your new friends worry me Derrick. For starters, what happened to Meredith? I thought she was the love of your life."

"She moved on with the baker." Death said as he gave Garion a look that told him he didn't want to discuss it further. Garion however did not care and pressed forward anyway.

"That doesn't sound like my sister." Garion stated as he looked at his friend for an explanation.

"What do you want to hear Garion? I came in and she had her legs wrapped around him and was wailing like a banshee. I stood there stunned and watched as she gave herself to him and then as I watched her slither down him like the snake she is I nearly wretched. The worst was how it almost seemed like time slowed as she took him in her mouth." Death told him as he shook with rage. What he did not say was that Derrick had run down to the out house and became sick after and then hid until the man left without ever confronting his wife.

"I'm so sorry my friend. I thought she had out grown that. What did you do?" Garion asked as he belted on his sword.

"What could I do? I ordered them both out of my house, and she moved in with him. I didn't keep track after that." He replied as they finished loading the supplies. Upon hearing the story Demona felt that Meredith's death was justified, and if she weren't dead she would happily kill her.

"I will help you my friend, but I must gather the other groups. We will be back in a week with as many men as we can find." Garion said as he gave instructions to a young boy who ran off.

"I can come and help you." Death said as he began to call for one of the boys.

"No, this will be difficult as it is. Your wife would complicate matters." Garion said as the boy brought two horses with him and he and Garion climbed on and began to ride off.

Death walked to his tent that had just been setup and unbuckled his sword belt and laid down to relax. Just as he closed his eyes he looked up in surprise as he felt a hand on his chest When he opened his eyes he saw Demona looking straight into his eyes as she grinned wickedly as she kissed him forcefully.

"I am yours, my love." Demona said as she lifted the covers and it was then that Death noticed she was naked and he grinned and kissed her back as their hands began to roam over eachothers bodies.

 _What are you doing? Let me wake up and stop this!_ Demona heard inside her mind.

 _This is what we both want. Just let go._ War replied.

Demona felt herself being rolled onto her back and sighed as she felt him enter her suddenly. Pictures of Goliath suddenly flashed through her mind and she began to feel guilty but War would not allow her to stop as she began to take control of her mind.

 _You know this is what you need._ She said as she took control and both Demona and War sighed deeply as they felt his seed enter her.

 _Oh no, what have I done?_ Demona could feel herself begin to panic. War quickly took over completely.

"That was wonderful my love. We should do that again soon." She purred to him.

"How about now?" He asked grinning at her.

"You're insatiable." She laughed as she kissed him again.

Inside Demona's mind War was suddenly surprised by a voice behind her. "I don't know who you are but you are trespassing in my home." War turned and saw the Arch-Mage standing there and his staff began to glow blue.


	7. Chapter 6: Battle for Redgorge

The Arch-mage fired a bolt of lightning at War and she barely raised a barrier to protect herself before being struck. The force of the blow caused her to lose her footing as she fell to the ground.

She quickly fired two purple missiles at him striking him in the chest, and slamming him into the wall behind him. As she struggled to regain her feet he slammed his staff into the ground causing eight large black tentacles to rise from the ground and begin to reach for War.

A purple blade appeared in her hand and she began to swing at the tentacles as they came near. She succeeded in cutting through them as they got close.

"You will know who I am soon enough mortal." War said as she flipped away from the remaining tentacles and landed close to the Arch-mage as she delivered a vicious kick to his midsection knocking him to the ground.

…As the battle raged on in Demona's mind King Roderick of Redgorge received news of the impending attack from Derrick's forces.

"It would seem it was a good idea to plant our spy in that camp after all." He said as he finished donning his armor and buckling on his sword.

"Yes my lord, I thought that Derrick was an honorable man. I had no idea that he would lead a revolt like this." Travis his squire said as he helped him with his armor.

"Agreed, but it would seem that we were both wrong." Roderick said grimly as Travis saddled his horse for him. After Roderick was prepared Travis quickly saddled and mounted his horse, and they rode out of the castle heading towards the front lines.

…Back inside Demona's mind War bound the Arch-mage's hands and feet together then placed him with Demona in the cage she had crafted. The cage's bars had thorns poking out in random places and gave off the appearance of a large thorn bush.

"At least she captured you as well." Demona scoffed at him.

"We need to get out of here." He said as Demona just rolled her eyes at him. "This is serious we need to help each other to get out of this mess." The Arch-mage pleaded with her.

"What's in it for me? She stays in control and I'm caged. You take back control and I'm caged. Where is the upside for me?" Demona snarled.

"When we defeat her I will not try and take control of you I swear it." He tried again to plead with her.

"How can you expect me to trust you after what you have done to me." Demona hissed.

"I need to stay here to survive, but I will never attempt to take over again. We both will die if we don't get rid of her."

"Very well, I suppose I don't have a choice." Demona sighed. "So, what do you have in mind?"

…As Demona and the Arch-mage planned their escape Roderick's army with Roderick and Travis in the lead arrived to find Death, War, and Garion followed by their army.

As the two armies faced each other the leaders from both sides rode up to meet each other.

"Derrick Galant, you have committed high treason against your King and betrayed our people. By the King's command we are taking you back to Redgorge to be held accountable for your actions." Travis shouted loud enough for both armies to hear him.

"Your reign has come to an end. Roderick your people deserve better and today we shall give it to them." Death shouted back.

"Drop your sword and surrender." Death stared in surprise as Garion drew his sword and pointed it at him.

"You're making a mistake Garion. We will win this fight with or without you." Death said as he drew his own sword. War's eyes flared red as she growled in anticipation.

"My men would disagree with you." Garion grinned as his men drew their swords and surrounded War and Death.

War smiled and stepped forward. "Your men now belong to us." she said as she raised her arms into the air. As she did red lightning shot from her finger tips and struck each soldier in the chest. Their eyes went red and they turned menacingly towards Garion and the King's army.

Both armies charged. As Death skillfully parried a blow from someone on his left he turned and drove his blade into the mid section of the soldier charging in from his right. He touched his ring to the dying soldier's head causing him to disintegrate.

"You're too soft on these mortals my love." War joked as she used Demona's claws to rip the throat out of a soldier that tried to attack her from behind.

"We're not all as brutal as you dear." Death replied as he ducked below a blade that would have taken off his head and stabbed the man through the heart killing him instantly as he continued to walk forward.

War and Death walked past the fighting men and the corpses of the many dead that now littered the street. Four of the King's troops noticed that they were walking past and turned to intercept them. War raised her hand and grinned as red smoke flew from her fingers and enveloped the rushing men. She watched in satisfaction and Death watched in boredom as the soldiers began to fight their fellows and each other.

"What?" War chuckled as she noticed Death's disapproving stare.

"You are having far to much fun with this. Sometimes I don't think you take this as seriously has you should." Death said shaking his head as he continued forward.

"I take it serious enough, but I need a little fun." She replied as she caught the arm of a man who attempted to stab her and used her free hand to turn his head backwards killing him instantly.

After a few minutes and several more kills they came upon Roderick and Travis standing back to back as they fought off War's troops. War snapped her fingers and the men backed off. She picked up a large mace as she and Death walked up to the King and his squire.

"Answer me this you traitor, are you proud of what you have done here today? Killing innocent men and betraying your country." The King shouted at him.

"I have no country, and yes death amuses me." Death grinned as his eyes glowed white.

"You-You're not human." Travis stammered.

"Clever boy, no I am not a weak pathetic human. I am so much more. For I am Death itself. So, come and meet your end." Roderick charged and Death sidestepped him and tripped him causing him to fall to the ground. As Travis came to help the King to his feet War slammed her mace into him causing him to lose consciousness and he rolled down the hill. The King rolled over and went to raise his sword.

"Ughh..." The King uttered has Death drove his sword down through his heart.

Death rose his bloody sword. "Victory!" Death shouted and his remaining troops raised their swords as they cheered.

...Demona and the Arch-mage watched the scene in horror.

"Alright, I hope this works. This bitch needs to be stopped now." Demona said as she waited for the Arch-mage to cast his spell.

"Remember, after I cast the spell I will be temporarily weakened so it'll be up to you to deal with her. Just remember what I told you about her weakness." He replied then turning towards the center of their cage he began to chant.


	8. Chapter 7: The Birth of Demons

As the Arch-mage completed the chant the bars of the cage began to melt away. As soon as the hole was big enough Demona leapt through and looked around, but War was not here.

"Where did she go?" Demona looked around the room for a moment.

"I'm not sure." The Arch-mage stated as he worked his way through the hole.

"You're much more resourceful than I gave you credit for." War said as she came around the corner at the back of the room. Demona's eyes flared red and she growled as she leapt to attack. Before she could get far the Arch-mage grabbed her arm.

"Look, around Demona." War said laughing. "If you could kill me now you would only succeed in killing us both." War chuckled as she walked closer to them.

Demona looked around and was shocked to see that they were standing in the back of a dark cave.

"Where have you brought us creature?" Demona snarled has her eyes flared red.

"We're about to be a mother Demona. You should be excited." War grinned at her as she waved her hand. Demona and the Arch-mage then saw an image of War at the back of the cave. She was lying on the ground sweating profusely and breathing heavily. The part of all of this to shock her the most was her waist had expanded exponentially from where it had been.

"What the hell have you done to me?" Demona asked as she prepared to attack again. The Arch-mage continued to hold her back.

"Just what I said, we're having our children together. This is a cause to celebrate." War said as she grabbed a bottle of wine from the table in the center of the room. As she uncorked the bottle they all heard a loud scream and they turned suddenly to see another gargoyle that was assisting with the delivery advised War to keep breathing. Demona wasn't sure who the young purple gargoyle was that was helping, but she felt that she knew her from somewhere.

War screamed once more and inside her mind the three inhabitants watched as the purple gargoyle pulled out first one and then a second human looking child.

"Nice try, bitch, but we have eggs not infants." Demona grinned at War as she started to walk forward again.

"That's why we need her." The Arch-mage suddenly spoke up as horror crept into his voice. "She's changed your biology just enough to allow her to give birth to a new species."

War smirked at that. "You are too smart for your own good old man." As she said that she made a shooing gesture and the Arch-mage found himself flying through the air until he was slammed into the back of the wall inside the cage. The cage then sealed shut and a chair appeared in front of Demona.

"Have a seat Demona, I wouldn't want you to miss this." War chuckled as Demona found herself floating to the chair. War then created one for herself as they began to watch what was happening.

In the cave, the purple gargoyle handed the two infants to War and the first thing she noticed was their eyes were completely black.

"Thank you for your help." War said she took the boy first in both hands and looked him directly in the eyes.

"You will be the embodiement of disease and decay. You my son will help me destroy their armies from the inside out." War said as she removed the green ring from the box with an emerald on the top and touched it to the infant's hand. The emerald shined brightly and the ring melted and when it had turned into a liquid it slowly began to work its way onto the child's hand and it formed into a ring around his finger. Demona, War, and the purple gargoyle watched as the infant grew to five feet in height and a green set of armor wrapped itself around him. Once the transformation was complete the boy grew red hair to match Demona's. His skin was an azure blue color.

"Mother, I am here to serve you." Pestilence said as he looked over his new form.

"Wait there while I finish the summoning." War stated as she then lifted the little girl. "You my dear will become the embodiement of starvation and suffering. You will become a plague upon mankind. You will destroy their morale and weaken their bodies as you corrupt their crops and destroy their will to survive."

War took the final pale yellow ring with the decaying yellow amethyst and touched it to the child's hand. The ring appeared to disappear, but it burst into millions of tiny spores that wrapped around the infants finger and has it did she instantly grew and stood four feet and eight inches tall. Her eyes were black like her brother's but her hair was also black. She wore a dark yellow dress and her skin was a dark lavender color.

"Mother, I am here has you requested." Famine said as she studied her new surroundings.

"My children it is good to see you again. Now, I think it is time that we fulfilled our purpose so we can be free from this world once and for all." War said as she rose and Demona's body went back to normal.

"We were expecting to be awoken in the 21st century. Why have you awoken us early?" Pestilence and Famine asked in unison.

"Death and I are tired of waiting. This world is ripe for the picking and we have decided to do so now." War stated as she put her arms around both of them.

"What would you have us do?" Pestilence asked as Famine looked up expectantly. War just smiled at them both.

"Tonight, we prepare to summon our master back onto this world." War stated as she closed the box and put it back into her pack.

"We're going to bring Lucifer here?" Both Pestilence and Famine asked in shock as they stared at War for a moment.

"I don't know who started breaking the seals of his cage, but they have started so we need to be prepared. Death and I are more than happy to welcome the end of this pathetic blue marble." War growled. "For today, do what you were born to do." War grinned as Pestilence and Famine floated out of the cave and headed out to do as she instructed.

"Soon Master, soon you will be free and then you will lead us to the gates of Heaven so we can tear them down, along with all of His favorite creations." War laughed as she glided away from the cave.


	9. Chapter 8: Fate Intervenes

Three weeks have passed since the birth of Pestilence and Famine. The group wasted no time in destroying any villages or kingdoms they came across. On the first morning of the fourth week since War gave birth to them they arrived in Scotland. After causing the dark ages in most of Europe they looked to continue for they were very close to releasing Lucifer from his cage.

"Fates, Come to me now!" Oberon shouted has he walked through the halls of his palace in Avalon. He had watched everything that occurred through Puck's mirror. His faithful servant had once again alerted him to a task not performed by the fates. The three sisters appeared before him with their heads bowed.

"You summoned us Lord?" The three asked in unison. Oberon glared at each one in turn.

"Your mission is to keep the plan in motion, and not let everything fall apart." He shouted causing them to flinch slightly.

"We have performed our duty as instructed." The fates said as they looked at each other confused about what was happening.

"Then you must be blind. I thought I had gifted you with the ability to see the road we are meant to walk down and yet the Apocalypse is beginning five centuries ahead of schedule!" He shouted as he paced back in forth in front of them. "You three will be punished for this, but for now I am sending in your brother to clean up your mess and you will assist him."

"Forgive us my lord, but we do not understand what we have done wrong." Oberon scowled at that and they hurried on. "We only mean that we were always told to allow the Apocalypse if it ever came to pass." The blonde fate stated.

"We were never told when it would happen, only that it would." The white haired fate added.

"We are not responsible for any fate besides that which we are assigned." The black haired fate pointed out.

"That kind of thinking ends today and you will start by cleaning up this mess. Your brother has already been summoned, and he will meet you in Scotland to finish this." Oberon stated firmly. The fates just looked at each other and nodded before they vanished.

"Incompetent fools. It's incredibly hard to find good help these days." Oberon thought out loud has he walked back to his chambers.

"I can handle this on my own." Puck said as he came out of the mirror to stand in front of Oberon.

"Not this time. This time it will take the strength of all of your powers combined to fix this problem…Oh, and Puck this gargoyle is to be unharmed." Oberon said as an image of Demona appeared on Puck's mirror. "Her anatomy has been altered by the being within her and I need you to fix it."

"Will do." Puck said as he turned to leave.

"One more thing…Wipe her memory of all of this, it should never have happened and we do not want this to affect her destiny."

"Don't worry. I'll get it done." Puck grinned as he disappeared.

...The Horsemen and their army arrived at a small village outside of the city of Balor.

"Watch this Sis." Pestilence said as he put his hand in the stream leading into the village causing the water to turn a dark green.

"Show off." Famine chuckled as she concentrated for a few minutes. Suddenly millions of spores shot from her dress and began to spread forth among the trees and worked their way towards the village. It wasn't long before they noticed the fruit and vegetables in the carts had begun to spoil.

"I never tire of watching you work." Death said as they watched the humans beginning to panic as they noticed their food spoiling in front of them.

"My army is ready, and I'm anxious for the slaughter." War stated excitedly.

"Patience Love, we will take them after our children have finished having their fun.

"I'll have fun with you." Puck grinned as he walked up to them from behind.

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Pestilence chuckled as he walked up to confront the intruder.

Puck grabbed him by the throat and easily lifted him off of his feet.

"I am fate, and you four are guilty of disrupting the natural order." Puck stated calmly. War, Death, and Famine laughed at that has Death stepped forward.

"You're out of your league here. I'll give you one opportunity to drop my son and leave alive." Death warned.

"Oh, I forgot I was holding you." Puck said has he waved his hand and hurled Pestilence into a nearby tree and his eyes began to glow bright green as two flame swords appeared in his hands. "Who's next?" He grinned as the other three Horsemen stared in shock.

"You've picked the wrong time to come out of hiding little Fay." War said as she began to chant and a red mist flew from her fingers and surrounded them all in a large circle. Out of the mist came many creatures that Puck couldn't identify. They appeared human, but they were all in random stages of decay.

"What have you done?" Puck asked horrified.

"I've improved them. Their stronger now, and completely obedient to us." Death stated as he walked forward. The undead creatures surged forward, but were suddenly blown back by a sudden explosion from the center.

"You were supposed to wait for us." The fates said as they appeared beside Puck.

"You took too long." Puck grinned.

"You should have waited." The sisters said irritably.

"Maybe we can discuss this later when we don't have ravenous freaks attacking us." Puck chuckled as they all noticed the creatures picking themselves up.

The creatures charged forward. Puck leapt forward and took the head off of the first creature and rolled as he took the legs out from under a second one.

The fates began to float in the air as they stood back to back forming a triangle. They began firing missiles and lightning from their fingertips at the approaching abominations.

Famine furious over what Puck had done to her brother she leapt at Puck as she surrounded herself with a shield of spores. Puck saw her leaping for him and quickly dodged out of the way.

As Famine hit the ground and rolled she formed a ball of spores and launched it at Puck striking him in the chest. The ball exploded and the spores quickly covered him, and Puck screamed as they began to solidify trapping him inside. Pestilence charged forward and delivered a swift kick to the trapped Puck. Then he touched the shell and it turned green and Puck screamed for a moment and then went silent.

The black haired fate charged forward, but was stopped suddenly has War grabbed her leg.

"You little bitches keep getting involved in matters that do not concern you." She said as she swung the fate and slammed her into a tree and began punching her repeatedly.

The fate was about to pass out when a blast of lightning struck War knocking her to the ground. The white haired fate then helped her sister up and kept firing her lightning bolts at the advancing creatures.

Death watched the scene play out. He was amused that the fates thought they could win. He was thinking on this when the blonde fate delivered a swift kick to the middle of his back knocking him to the ground.

The white haired fate tore open the shell containing Puck. Puck gasped for breath as he struggled to stand. Then he noticed War leaping towards them. Puck shoved his sister out of the way and quickly lifted his sword into the air and severed middle, ring finger, and pinky from her right hand severing the ring from her hand. Demona laid on the ground unconscious. Puck quickly cast a shield over the ring and put it in his pouch. Has Puck defeated War the red mist vanished and the undead army disappeared suddenly.

"Cut the rings off. That will destroy them." Puck shouted as he turned to face Famine. The white haired fate charged forwared to help her sister with Death. The black haired fate charged towards Pestilence and just before he could reach Puck and Famine she slammed into him and knocked him to the ground. Drawing her dagger she quickly cut his right ring finger off severing the ring. Unlike Demona Pestilence was born as a demon so as soon as the ring was cut he turned to black smoke and flew away. Has Pestilence was defeated the water he poisoned became clear again.

Famine fired more spores at Puck he used his swords to burn them as they came close and then ducked and leapt into the air. Faminie created another ball and was about to throw it but was to slow as she found her hand severed by one of Puck's blades. The damage she had done could not be repaired but it did stop spreading sparing the remaining food for the village.

They all turned on Death and prepared to attack.

"I know when I have been defeated." Death said. "I would only request that you return my family to me." Death said has he grabbed the box that had contained the rings.

"Why would we even consider doing that?" Puck asked as he put Famine and Pestilence's rings in the pouch.

"He's destined to release them, but NOT until the correct year." Oberon said as he turned to face Death. "If I sense you stepping out of line again I'll turn you inside out and allow the gargoyles to play dice with your eyeballs." Oberon said menacingly.

"We'll see." Death smirked as he put the rings back in the box, and vanished.

While Oberon was speaking Puck and the Fates healed Demona.

Inside Demona's mind the Arch-mage and Demona were discussing their future now that War had been expelled.

"I will keep my promise " the Arch-mage smiles reassuringly to her.

"Thank you." Demona said as she reached for some maps. "There are some great places for you to settle." Demona said as she began rolling out a map. "Ughh..." Demona uttered as she fell over unconscious. The Arch-mage had taken the opportunity to use his staff to shock her from behind.

"I'm sorry, Demona but I'm comfortable here." The Arch-mage sighed has he surveyed the area. "It's good to be home. Now, I just need to remake it how I want." He chuckled as he started working.

Oberon and the Fates cast a spell to remove the memories of the Horsemen from Demona's mind.

"What happens when they return?" Puck asked suddenly.

"Then that will be the end." Oberon replied as he began to cast the spell to return to Avalon.

...1993

"What the hell am I doing here?" Demona thought out loud for the hundredth time since agreeing to steal the Onyx Dragon statue. She watched has the truck entered the warehouse. In front of the warehouse to guards came out and Demona assumed there must be many more inside.

Deciding on a plan she dove down to the side of the warehouse and snuck inside the window. Has she surveyed the warehouse she found that she was correct, and that there were many guards unloading the crate from the back of the truck.

As one guard walked by she quickly grabbed him and snapped his neck. Running to the front of the truck she ducked down and counted the remaining guards and found that including the two at the door there were six. She began to leap to attack the remaining troops but something grabbed her arm and has she went to strike it she saw it was Puck holding her.

"Who in the hell are you and what are you doing here." Demona snarled.

"My name is Puck and I found you because I was meant to." Puck replied as he grinned at her annoyed look. "How about I help you get this statue so we can talk."

"Very well, how do you plan to help me?" She asked suspiciously.

"You take the three on your side and I'll take the three on mine." Puck grinned as two flame swords appeared in his hands. She just nodded and they both walked slowly to their first targets.

The first guard heard Demona and turned to see what it was. Demona was quick however and quickly turned his head around and snapped his neck. At the same time Puck slit the throat of his first target.

Demona tripped the second one and stomped on his throat killing him instantly.

"Oh, hello." Puck said as his second target turned and saw him. Puck ran him through has he called out for help. The remaining guards ran to help their colleague. Demona leapt from her hiding place and tackled one of them to the ground and quickly ripped his throat out as she turned to face the remaining guards along with Puck.

The remaining guards opened fire. Puck vanished and reappeared above the guards and landed between two of them. He stabbed the one on the left through the throat has he cut the other in half vertically.

One bullet grazed Demona's left arm. Her eyes flared red and she leapt at them and tore the head off of the first one and punched a hole through the chest of the second one.

As Demona raided the truck and retrieved the statue a thought occurred to her.

"How did you find me here?" Demona asked as she put the statue away.

"Because, I was meant to." He replied.

"What does that mean?" Demona snapped irritably.

"My employer can bring your beloved back to life. If you're interested he would like to meet tomorrow night at this address." Puck said while handing her Xanatos's card.

...2016

Oberon watched the emergence of War and Death and called the Fates to him.

"I know that your brother is taking a stand against the Apocalypse but Fate must be adhered to." Oberon sighed and then continued. "If he interferes now you'll have to kill him." He said slowly as he stood to go back to his chambers.

"Understood my lord." The Fates said in unison.


	10. Chapter 9: The Investigation Begins

…Two weeks before Death visited Delilah.

"Owen? Owen, where are you?" Xanatos asked for the tenth time has he searched the house from top to bottom looking for his assistant, but Owen was nowhere to be found. "Alright, it's safe. You can come out now."

"Thank you for meeting with me David." Oberon said as he stepped forward and shook David's hand as he had learned was the custom from Titania.

"It's no trouble has long as you're not intending to take my son again." David said eyeing him seriously for a moment. "Why did you not want Puck here for this. It would seem that he would be very helpful." David pointed out.

"Like me, Puck does not desire the end of this world. It is fate however and none of us can fight it." Oberon replied. "He will try and stop it and then I would be forced to kill him, and I do not want too."

"If you do not want this to happen than why not put a stop to it." David asked has he pulled out a chair and sat across from him.

"I just told you." Oberon said with a hint of irritation bleeding through as he spoke. "None of us can fight fate. Fate is what has guided all of the peoples of this planet through the lives they have built and accomplishments they have achieved. Fate must be adhered to otherwise chaos will reign and I cannot allow that."

"It would be the end of the world." David chuckled. "Chaos is all we will have when that begins."

Oberon just scowled as he stepped closer to David. "I hear you're still in contact with Dr. Sevarius."

"And, what interest is the good doctor to you?" David asked suddenly curious about Oberon's plans.

"He has been chosen to raise the army that War will lead against the meager forces of this world." Oberon sighed as he gathered his thoughts.

"The man is unbalanced, and I'm putting that mildly." David said has he went to pour himself a drink.

"I am aware of his eccentricities, but he is still the only one alive that can create the army that I require." Oberon stated has he started to lose patience with the conversation.

"What's in it for me?" David asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"If I do this and get Sevarius to help you the world will end. Where is my incentive to help you." David leaned over his desk and stared at Oberon to emphasize his point. "Alliances are built upon mutual advantage. So, before I help you I need you to tell me what my advantage will be."

"I thought that was obvious." Oberon replied. "My daughter will be coming to Avalon and of course has her husband you and my grandson will be coming with her."

"Alright, then I will do it, but I still have my doubts about this." David said has he began looking through his phone book. Oberon disappeared has David picked up the phone and began to dial.

 _What the hell have I got myself into this time?_ David thought as he waited for the other line to pick up.

"Hello." Fox picked up the other end.

"When will you be home? We have something that we need to discuss now."

"I don't know, I still have a few things I need to take care of here." She replied.

"Hurry, we really need to discuss this." David's tone began to worry her.

"David, what's wrong? What happened?" Fox asked as fear crept into her voice.

"Nothing yet, but if we can't fix this it is the end of everything." David said as he hung up the phone and sat in his favorite chair brooding for a few hours as he contemplated his options. Then with a sigh he picked up the phone again. "Dracon, yes it's me. I have a task for you..."

...Current day, back at Matt Bluestone's apartment.

"Does she always take this long?" Matt asked for the fifth time as he placed a card down on their discard pile. They had begun playing phase ten when they grew bored waiting for her to show up.

"Well, you know Liz. She won't quit until she finds what she's looking for." Jason pointed out as he grabbed the card and put down another.

"Maybe, we should go check on her." Matt suggested has he drew a new card and laid eight of his ten cards on the table. "Looks like I phased first again." He said with a laugh as he discarded one.

Jason scowled at that has he studied his cards. Then he grinned as he picked up the discarded card and laid down nine of his cards and discarded his final card.

"Yet I still win." Jason grinned as he began to shuffle the deck again.

"Beginner's luck." Matt chuckled as he got up to grab himself a beer as Jason dealt.

...Meanwhile Elisa pulled up outside of Xanatos's company headquarters.

"Talk about Deja vu." Elisa said as she pulled up and Owen came out to greet her.

"I got your message Detective. What can I do to help?" Owen asked as he fell into step beside Elisa has they walked into the building.

"What do you know about Xanatos's deal with Sevarius?" Elisa asked as they approached the conference room.

"Straight to the point. I like that. Very well, I know nothing of his deals with Sevarius." Owen stated as he pulled out a chair for Elisa and then took one himself. Elisa crossed her arms as she eyed him suspiciously.

"I thought we were at a place where you could trust me." Elisa stated coldly.

"We were and then you left for Dallas, however this isn't about trust. Mr. Xanatos has not advised me of anything regarding Dr. Sevarius." Owen said as he eyed her thoughtfully for a moment. "Actually, we may be able to help each other. I know he is not telling me everything and you being here confirms that. We should find out what he is hiding."

"I left for Dallas, because of my job." Elisa stated defensively.

Owen just looked at her skeptically. "No, Detective I believe you left because of Goliath."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? I'm with Jason now. I love Jason. To hell with Goliath." Elisa stated bitterly.

"Your emotions betray you." Owen grinned at her.

"Whatever, can we just get back to the point?" Elisa snapped angrily.

"Very well. If it is indeed Sevarius that Mr. Xanatos is working with then we should start at the doctor's laboratory." Owen pointed out.

"Why would Xanatos be working with him again?" Elisa thought out loud.

"I don't know. This is the first time he has hidden his agenda from me." Owen said with irritation creeping into his voice.

The two left Xanatos's office and headed to Dr. Sevarius's lab.

"Is this it?" Elisa asked as they stepped out of the car.

"What were you expecting? A creepy castle or a sign outside saying creepy old man inside keep your children away." Owen chuckled as he walked around to the back of the building.

Owen opened the door quickly and Elisa took the lead with her gun drawn. Inside they found a long hallway leading towards the center of the building. After advancing several feet they heard a rumbling sound as a robot moved towards them from the other end of the room. The robot stood seven feet tall and was chrome colored from head to toe. It had the appearance of a walking metal skeleton. It's red eyes narrowed as it took aim.

"Oops, wrong room." Elisa said as she turned to leave with Owen. The door they had come in slammed shut. "Shit! Okay, I guess we're going through Robocop." Elisa turned and the robot fired. Before the bullets could strike Elisa Owen turned into Puck and leapt in front of her with a large round green shield that deflected the bullets. The robot walked forward while continuing to fire.

"Wrong movie. He looks more like a terminator." The machine stopped to reload and Puck took advantage of the time has he hurled the shield has hard as he could and it hit the mid section of the robot and split it into two pieces. They watched has the lights in it's eyes went out before they continued heading down the hallway.

As they passed the machine Elisa holstered her pistol and picked up it's rifle. When they got to the end of the hall they found themselves staring at thousands of gargoyle clones directly below them and to the left she saw the Thailog clone. Elisa aimed her rifle and was going to fire, but Puck stopped her.

"He's not alive. There's no use shooting a body." Puck pointed out. Across the large gap they saw lights come on inside of a small office. Walking around the chasm as quickly has they can while also being quiet they reached the door to the office and found it cracked open.

Elisa quietly entered the office followed closely by Puck. They found Sevarius sitting at his desk looking over some papers. Elisa snuck up behind him and grabbed him quickly out of the chair and while twisting him to face her slammed his back into the wall as she put her pistol under his chin.

"Well now, isn't this dramatic." Sevarius chuckled. Elisa tightened her grip on his shirt.

"Listen smart ass we're here to ask you about the project your doing for Xanatos and about the fact you've begun cloning again." Elisa shouted the last part. The cloning made her angry because of what had happened to Derrick the last time Sevarius dabbled with cloning.

"What does Xanatos have to do with all of this?" Puck asked as one of his swords appeared in his hands.

"You really think I would tell you anything?" Sevarius laughed as he looked from Elisa to Puck.

"That would depend entirely upon you, but if you value your balls I suggest you speak up." Puck grinned as he lowered his sword.

"You wouldn't dare." He glared at the fay then at Elisa. "Aren't you going to say something."

"I could suggest he just make you a eunuch." Elisa grinned. Sevarius breathed in sharply and nearly screamed when he felt Puck's blade digging teasingly into his leg.

"Alright, enough already. There's a card on my desk. You should find what you're looking for there." Sevarius breathed a sigh of relief until Puck placed his blade close to his throat.

"If you are wasting our time becoming a eunuch will be a pleasant dream compared to what will be in store for you." As he finished speaking he sheathed the blade.

Elisa dropped the doctor and swiped the card off of his desk as they headed out the door.

"Do you know where this address is located?" Puck asked as he looked at the card with her.

"Not yet, but we will find it and get to the bottom of this." Elisa said as they climbed into her car and sped off. Elisa picked up her phone and dialed. "Jason, get Matt and both of you meet us at 1911 Oakridge Street...No, I don't know where it is...Use google maps." Elisa said has she hung up the phone. While she was speaking to Jason Puck was guiding the car to the address.

Elisa and Puck arrived at the address. It was a large strip club it had pink signs outside to attract people to come in. Elisa groaned as soon as she saw where they were stopping.

"What's the problem?" Puck asked as he looked at her in surprise.

"This is Tony Dracon's place." Elisa said bitterly has she stepped out of the car.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Puck asked as he hurried to catch up.

"I just can't guarantee I won't kill him." Elisa snarled.

"Just wait until we get the information we need." Puck pointed out.

"I'll try." Elisa replied as they walked up to the club doors. The bouncer at the door stopped them as they we're about to walk in.

"Lines back there." He said as he let a few people in.

"I'm sure it is." Elisa said as she pulled out her badge. He looked at it for a moment and then laughed.

"This is for Dallas. You're in New York baby." He chuckled as he tossed it back.

"Does it matter where this is from?" Elisa said as she drew her pistol. "No? That's what I thought." She said as the bouncer stepped back while her and Puck walked in.

"You know he's going to call the police." Puck pointed out.

"No, he won't. He'll call Dracon's thugs." Elisa said as she quickly walked into the main part of the club. Puck was about to say something further but the music drowned him out. As they walked in they found that it was difficult to see because of the strobe lights, but that didn't appear to stop the many people out on the dance floor, and she had to admit she felt envious of the skill the table dancers possessed. The loud techno music was nearly deafening, and Puck wanted nothing more at that moment than to finish this and leave. Has they walked towards the back they were met by three of Dracon's thugs.

"Come with us." The lead thug said during a lull in the music. Elisa and Puck followed him as the other two disarmed Elisa and took positions to watch them.

"Welcome back Detective Maza. I missed you not always trying to interfere with my plans." Tony said as he sat at his desk. "Take a seat we have much to discuss."

Puck and Elisa sat down and waited for Dracon to get to the point.

"Let me guess. You got bored chasing cowboys and decided you needed the excitement only big bad Dracon can provide. Am I right?" Tony chuckled as he looked them both over.

"We need to talk about what Sevarius and Xanatos are up to." Elisa said suddenly. Dracon looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.

"It would seem you've come a long way for nothing." Dracon replied. Elisa took out the card and threw it to him.

"This card says otherwise." Elisa said crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, you have a card. Look Elisa it's been nice catching up, but I think that there is much that we can do for each other." He grinned as he stood and paced back and forth behind the desk.

"Such as?"

"Well, I can give you enough to put away Sevarius once and for all." Tony grinned as he pulled a folder out of his file cabinet. He went to hand it over and then pulled it back as she reached for it. "Of course, you'll have to earn it."

"No way. I am not doing that." Elisa said heatedly has she started to rise.

"Oh, get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking because your the only one I know who can get close to Demona."

"What do you want with her?" Puck and Elisa asked simultaneously.

"Her? Nothing at all, she has something that I need and since you can get close to her you can get it for me."

"What exactly is it that I would be retrieving?" Elisa asked as she sat back down.

"Elisa, what are you doing?" Puck looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Tony interrupted.

"That's the best part this is an easy job. It's just a statue, and I don't think she would even miss it." He pulled a picture from the envelope it was a black dragon statue.

"What is this thing?" She asked studying the photo.

"Just an heirloom that she stole from me years ago. It has immense sentimental value, but monetarily it's worthless." Dracon said as he began to walk them out.

"If I do this. You will give me enough to take down Xanatos and Sevarius." Elisa said as she walked up to him and snatched the file.

"You're getting greedy." Tony chuckled as he watched her walk out. She stopped suddenly and looked over her shoulder at him.

"You said it was of immense value to you." She smiled as Puck followed her out of the room. As they got outside he rounded on her.

"Are you out of your mind? You can't steal from your friend to help our enemy." Puck nearly shouted.

"I will do what I want. Besides what friend? I haven't heard from my so called friends in five years so I'll do whatever I damn well please." As Puck and Elisa continued to discuss the situation Matt's undercover vehicle came speeding around a corner and stopped in front of the club. Jason hopped out and stormed up to Elisa.

"You gave us the wrong address on purpose?" He shouted as he came up to her.

"I knew I could handle Dracon, besides I gave you the next door address just in case I would need back up didn't I?" Elisa grinned. "You're very cute to worry about me though."

"Alright, what did you get?" Jason asked as he attempted to calm down.

"Not here, let's go back to the apartment." Elisa said as she got back into Owen's car with Puck.

"What was that about them not being your friends?" Puck asked as he changed back to Owen.

"You wouldn't understand." Elisa said as she drove off.


	11. Chapter 10: Confrontations

"So, we're agreed. We will wait until sunrise to steal the statue." Owen reiterated as they arrived back at Xanatos's office, and he stepped out of the car. Elisa didn't respond. "Elisa, are we agreed." Owen asked concerned by her lack of response.

"Yes, we're agreed. Get off of my back." She said as she floored the accelerator and sped off. As she arrived at her destination she snuck into Xanatos's old building. _Sorry Puck, but I need to do this now._ She ran up the stairs as silently as she could. She considered the elevator, but knew that they would hear her coming that way. _I have to get into their collection before the door locks._ She thought to herself as she ran as quickly and silently as she could.

After reaching the top floor she listened at the door for a minute.

"I'm telling you just this once more. If you go then you will have to find a new mate!" Elisa clearly heard Angela shouting. She heard Angela walk further down the hall followed by heavier footsteps that she assumed belonged to Broadway. She slowly opened the door and seeing that she was alone she darted to the other side of the room. She took the first left that she came to and saw Goliath and Hudson heading her direction. She quickly hid behind a book case as they passed by.

"Are you certain Lad?" Hudson was asking as they walked past.

"We'll need to keep an eye on her she says this Death was her lover centuries ago when she was inhabited by War, and she doesn't…" Elisa couldn't hear anymore as they went out onto the parapets.

 _I've got to hurry it'll be dawn soon and the door will lock._ Elisa thought as she ran to the treasure room. When she got there she noticed the door was beginning to close so she ran and slid into the room before the door slammed shut.

She searched through the different items. The room was very large with bookshelves lining the walls, and stands with different magical artifacts carefully placed upon them. It was on one of these stands that Elisa found what she was searching for. As she picked up the statue she was amazed at how light it was. It looked like a heavy paper weight shaped like a dragon. She pocketed the dragon and waited for nightfall when the door would unlock and she could escape.

…Back at Matt's apartment.

"You need to keep a tighter grip on that wife of yours Canmore." Matt chuckled as they waited for her to return. Jason was frustrated and he kept flipping through channels before tossing the remote to the other side of the couch.

"I should have known she would do this. I will talk with her when she finally decides to return." He said bitterly.

"What are you going to do when she does?" Matt asked as he brought two beers into the living room and sat on the opposite end of the couch as he handed Jason one.

"I don't know. Over the last two years she has seemed like a completely different person. I don't know how much longer I can hold this marriage together." Jason confessed as he took a long drink.

"It's really that bad?" Matt asked as he grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels.

"It's worse; she's always hiding things from me. I think it's time I let her go." Jason replied as he finished his beer.

"Wow, I'm sorry man." Matt said as he finished his as well.

…In the lab, Doctor Sevarius was working to finish the last of the clones. These would be his leaders. He made them more powerful and faster than any of the others. _The best part is they will remain completely loyal to me._ He thought to himself as he grinned and continued his work.

…At the club, Dracon picked up his phone and dialed. "Well, I don't give a shit if it's a bad time. Your flunky and Detective Maza were here asking questions. I thought you had your house in order Xanatos." Tony listened for a minute. "It had better be." He snarled as he slammed the phone down.

…Back at the castle.

Elisa awoke to the sound of her phone alarm going off. _Ten missed calls from Jason. That's excessive._ She put her phone away just as she heard the locks on the door beginning to release. Elisa went to the door to look and see If it was clear for her to leave when Adela walked in.

"It's good to see you again Elisa, but I cannot allow you to take anything from this room." Adela said as she stepped forward.

"I'm simply returning what you stole in the first place." Elisa stated as she backed away from the gargoyle. Adela looked around for a moment and then shook her head.

"That statue is more dangerous than you realize." Adela pointed out.

"Save the lecture for someone who cares." Elisa said as she began to walk forward again. Adela stood in her way and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know what I've done to upset you, but I don't want to have to take it back from you. Please just put it back." Adela tried once more to reason with her.

"You don't know what you've done!" Elisa shouted. "You know DAMN well what you've done." Elisa began tearing up as she continued. "You betrayed the only being that could love scum like you, and you kept betraying him until he became little more than a shell. I picked him up, protected him, became friends, and finally fell in love with him."

"What does any of tha..." Adela began.

"I'm NOT finished." Elisa snapped. "After all of the pain you caused him he began to love again, and I loved him very much in return." Elisa said as she began to shake with anger. "Then you come back and kick me to the curb like some kind of whore that was just keeping him occupied while you made up your mind."

"It wasn't like that. Elisa, I'm sorry you feel that way but it was much different than that." Adela said as she tried to sound comforting, but couldn't understand what had come over her friend.

"Then how was it Demona? Tell me how it was, because I think you wanted to discard him as trash until you saw someone was willing to pick up the broken pieces you left behind." Elisa stated angrily.

"Elisa, listen to me the statue amplifies your anger. You need to put it back." Adela stepped forward to hold her friends shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You came to my ceremony, and I came to your wedding remember? We are friends now."

"I'm no friend of yours." Elisa shouted as she back handed Adela so hard she nearly fell over. Adela could feel the blood trickling down from her split lip. She looked at Elisa in shock for a moment and then her eyes flared red.

"Fine, you want Demona. I'll be Demona." She snarled as she delivered a swift kick to Elisa's midsection knocking her to the ground. "That felt really good. Do you know how hard it is to keep my anger in check?"Adela said as she pulled Elisa's head up by the front of her shirt and punched her hard causing the back of her head to slam into the ground.

Elisa quickly swept Adela's legs out from under her. Then leaping to her feet she stomped on the gargoyles midsection and kept stomping until Adela caught her foot and shoved her away. She lay there for a moment in pain as Elisa got up quickly. Elisa realizing that Adela was hurt took the opportunity to run. Adela watched her run and wanted to chase her but the pain from her broken ribs was to much for her, and she closed her eyes and tried to will the pain to subside. _Oh, no. What have I done. I didn't mean for that to turn into a fight._ Adela thought to herself bitterly as the magic from the statue began to fade from her.

"Adela, what happened?" Silvara and Lexington were walking past the collection room and saw Adela lying on the ground bleeding. They ran to her and tried to help her up.

"Can you stand?" Lexington asked as he and Silvara tried to help lift her. Adela shook her head.

"My ribs..." She began and then she passed out from the pain.

"Lex, get Goliath tell him we need his help. I'll stay with her." Silvara said as she began to wipe the blood off of Adela's face. Lex hesitated for a moment but then ran out of the room to find Goliath.

Goliath and Brooklyn were researching the Horsemen when Lexington came into the library. "Goliath, Adela needs help."

"What happened?" Goliath asked as he put down the book he was reading. "Where is she?" Lex turned and ran down the hall guiding Goliath and Brooklyn back to the collection room. When Goliath saw his angel lying on the ground his eyes glowed white and he rushed to her side to check to make sure she was still breathing. Sighing with relief to see she was alive he carefully picked her up and carried her to one of the bedrooms and laid her gently on the bed.

He ushered everyone out of the room and quietly shut the door. He looked at Lex wanting an explanation.

"I don't know what happened Goliath, we were walking past the room and saw her lying there. We ran into help her and tried to help her stand but she couldn't." Silvara said as she looked to Lex to explain further.

"We don't know who did this Goliath, but I hope we find out." Lex stated firmly.

"As soon as she wakes up I will ask her what she remembers." Goliath then turned to Brooklyn. "Search the building. If her attacker is here bring them to me alive."

"Alive? are you certain?" Brooklyn asked shocked.

"They won't be soon after." Was Goliath's only reply.

"Lexington, you and Silvara search the rest of this wing. I'll get Hudson and Bronx to take the building below the castle along with Galvanis's clan, and finally Katana and I will take the west wing of the castle. While Goliath searches the central rooms." As Brooklyn finished speaking he went to speak to Galvanis. He knew Katana was visiting her sisters so he could tell everyone at the same time.

Galvanis was speaking with Katana when he arrived. They quickly became quiet when he approached. Brooklyn was in to much of a rush to notice though.

"I'm glad I found you guys here. Adela's been attacked." Brooklyn said quickly.

"Oh, no. Is she going to be okay? I should go see her." Katana was shocked by the news.

"Who could break into here and attack one of your own. It would seem that Goliath made a poor choice when choosing his second." Galvanis said sternly. "I know that my second can take care of the clan while I'm away."

"Father, that's enough. What can we do to help?" Katana asked as she came up to hug him.

"We're going to search the west wing of the castle while the rest of the clan searches the other wings. I was hoping your clan could search the building for her attacker." Brooklyn stated still shaken by Galvanis's words.

"Very well, and when we find this attacker we will deal with them." Galvanis stated as he called his clan to come over to them.

"Goliath wants the attacker brought to him alive." Brooklyn replied.

"I don't know if that will be a good idea." Galvanis sighed. "However, it is his clan so we will follow his wishes." He said as they left to conduct their search and Brooklyn and Katana headed to search their wing.

"Can we stop for a moment?" Katana asked after the third room they searched.

"What's wrong love?" Brooklyn said as he noticed her staring at the floor trying to think of how to word what she would say next.

"I think I want to seperate." Katana said as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Why? What did I do?" Brooklyn stammered as he was taken by surprise.

"It's not what you did my love. It's that you never have time for me and our hatchlings." She began to cry as Brooklyn hugged her tight to him.

"I'm so sorry." Brooklyn said as he tried to comfort her.

"I would never ask you to abandon your position as second, but I feel that I can no longer stand to be alone as you perform your duties. I'm sorry, but it's becoming increasingly lonely." Katana said as she looked away from him.

"I would rather renounce the position than leave you." Brooklyn said as he raised her chin to look him in the eye. The tears in her eyes nearly broke his heart.

"I can't ask you to do that." Katana whispered.

"You're not. I'm volunteering." He looked at her gravely for a moment. "Can you give me just a couple of weeks to pick a replacement." With that she leaned forward and kissed him.

"I will wait for you. Thank you dear." Katana smiled and they continued the search.

After a few hours all both clans except Adela, Broadway, and Angela met to discuss their findings.

"I'm sorry Goliath, we didn't find anything. I think we will have to wait for Adela to wake up to tell us what happened." Galvanis said.

"That probably won't happen until tomorrow evening her wounds are very bad. Mary is looking in on her now and bandaging her as well as she can." Goliath said as he slammed a book down that he had been reading just as Broadway and Angela entered the conference room.

"What happened?" Angela asked as she saw all the grim looks. Everyone looked at her for a moment trying to think of how to respond. Then Katana walked up and hugged her as Broadway joined the group.

"Your mother was attacked dear. She's unconscious now, but we expect that she'll be fine by tomorrow evening after she has rested." Angela's eyes began to glow bright red.

"Who attacked her?" She snarled as she looked ready to charge after her attacker right then.

"We don't know. By the time we found her and performed a search the attacker had already left." Katana stated mournfully.

"That doesn't make any sense. How could someone get in and attack my mother and then leave without being seen?" Angela asked suddenly. "It had to be one of us, or someone who knows this castle very well." Angela said thoughtfully. "Xanatos, he has to be the attacker." She snarled.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. We'll wait for Adela to wake up and then see if she can fill in more information about her attacker. Goliath walked over and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder then.

"We mustn't act rash here. I have my suspicions as well, but we cannot know for certain until she wakes." Goliath said as the rest of the gargoyles prepared for dawn which was fast approaching.

"Very well, but when we find out who the attacker is I will rip them apart." Angela growled as she headed to her parapet.

Goliath shook his head. _Not if I get to them first._ He thought to himself as he watched the sunrise and turned to stone.


	12. Chapter 11: Changes

Elisa arrived back at Matt's apartment and was relieved to find that Jason and Matt had gone to sleep. She kicked off her shoes and put her jacket with the statue in the pocket on the chair next to her. She sat on the couch holding her head as she tried to gather her thoughts.

 _What's the matter with me? I can't seem to control myself. Not that I'm sorry because that bitch had it coming._ Elisa thought bitterly as she laid on the couch. She thought about going to bed with Jason but thought better of it. _I love sex, but I don't think I love him._ Elisa was shocked by her own thoughts, but admitted to herself that she had known that all along, and only agreed to marry him when she saw Goliath and Adela together.

She took out the statue and studied it for a moment. _Why should I give this to Dracon. I should just keep it._ She grinned inwardly has she held it close to her chest as she fell asleep.

As the sun went down the stone on Adela cracked and finally burst from her body. She looked around trying to remember where she was.

"Oh, good. You're awake." Mary said as she came into the room. "I was a little concerned last night after I saw the damage to your spleen and kidneys." Mary said as she began to feel Adela's ribs.

"Oh..." Adela flinched. "Sorry, I think they're still a little tender." Adela said then her eyes popped wide open. "Where is she?" Adela asked as her eyes flared red. She tried to leap up off of the bed and stopped herself when she felt the pain in her side. "I need to get that statue back."

"Well, I think Goliath would like to know you're awake." Mary said as she got up.

"Oh, he must be so worried about me. Yes, please tell him I'm okay." Adela said as Mary walked out the door. Within minutes Goliath appeared in the doorway followed closely by Brooklyn.

"Are you alright my angel?" Goliath asked with concern creeping into his voice as he saw her holding her side.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm not a hatchling you know." Adela said bitterly. As she noticed the look of anguish on his face her heart softened. "I'm sorry my love. I know you're worried about me. I just feel embarrased." Adela said as she tried to sit up.

"Who attacked you?" Brooklyn spoke up suddenly.

"I...I don't remember." Adela considered telling them the truth, but decided she needed to learn for herself why Elisa would steal the sculpture and attack her.

"We searched the castle and the nearby areas after the attack. We couldn't find the attacker anywhere." Brooklyn said as he started to walk out of the room. "Goliath, I need to speak with you alone when you have the time." Brooklyn said as he stepped out.

"Who was it Adela?" Goliath asked patiently.

"I...I don't know Goliath." Adela said looking away from him. She could never look him in the eye when she lied. Goliath just smiled and held her hand in his own. He rubbed his hand over her silver mark that she had gotten during the soul melding ceremony.

"Our souls have melded. I know when you're lying my angel." Goliath pointed out. "I'll respect your decision not to tell me. I hope that you'll trust me enough to tell me soon."

"It's not about trust my love. It's just that I'm not sure why it happened and until I know I can't be sure what to do about it."Adela replied.

"So, Angela was correct and it is someone we know." Goliath growled.

"Yes, I will tell you it's someone that we know, but until I uncover her motives please don't do anything." Adela said in almost a pleading tone. "I need to do this myself."

"Can you tell me who she is at least?" Goliath asked again. Adela sighed and looked him in the eye.

"You promise to let me deal with this and not race off to kill her?" Adela asked searching his eyes for the answer she needed. "Remember, I can tell if you're lying to." She grinned at him.

"Yes, I swear to trust your judgement on this matter." Goliath promised.

"Very well, I was walking past the collection room the morning I saw someone slide into it, so instead of going to the parapets I slept outside the door. When I awoke I went in to see who it was, and I found Elisa stealing the dragon statue." Adela admitted.

Goliath's eyes glowed white. "How could she do something like that!" Goliath snarled and he looked as if he could kill her on the spot and would find her if it had not been for his promise.

"I don't know what came over her, but I need to find out if she was in control of herself." Adela said as she held his hand tight in her own.

"If she was?" Goliath asked in a strangled voice. He couldn't believe that Elisa was capable of this, but he also knew that Adela was telling the truth.

"Then I want the kill." Adela said hotly as her eyes flared red. I was the one who was attacked and it is my right if I deem it necessary.

"If she is not under some kind of control then I won't stand in your way, but I will investigate with you." Goliath said with a note of finality.

"I will handle this on my own." Adela replied.

"In this case my angel I cannot allow that. You're a member of this clan and as such it is my responsibility to look into this. I promise that I will let you be the judge on what happens with the information, but I cannot let you do this all alone." Goliath said as he kissed her before standing up.

"Thank you for trusting me my love." Adela said as she laid back down to rest.

Goliath headed to Brooklyn's chambers to tell him to call off the search.

..."You want us to attack them?" Hyena was pacing back and forth in Dracon's office. "Why?"

"Elisa stole something from me, and I need it back." Dracon said as he went to his file cabinet and pulled out a picture of the statue.

"What is this thing?" Jackal interrupted as he snatched the picture before his sister could grab it.

"Who cares what it is. The question is how much are you paying for retrieval." Wolf asked as he finished sharpening his axe.

"Xanatos is paying top dollar for the acquisition of the statue." Tony informed them.

Wolf stood up and sheathed his axe. "Very well, you heard him we have a fancy paperweight to snatch." He chuckled as the three of them left the room.

...Several hours later. "What do you mean you just lost track of time!" Jason was shouting at Elisa. He had woken up that morning to find Elisa sleeping on the couch, and when he questioned her about why she didn't come back sooner she had given him an excuse.

"Just what I said now leave me alone." Elisa said as she put her jacket back on.

"I don't know what's wrong with you lately, but I have had enough." Jason shouted. Matt decided to go into another room because he was beginning to feel like a child watching their parents fight.

"Oh, have you now. Well you know what Jason? If Goliath hadn't run off with that whore I would be with him now and maybe for once be satisfied." She shouted as she got within inches of him.

"Elisa, I think I want a divorce." Jason said quietly. Elisa sighed and looked at him.

"Maybe that would be..." Before Elisa could finish her sentence the glass wall exploded has Delilah smashed through it. She rose slowly with her eyes glowing red as she looked back and forth from Elisa and Jason.

"Where's my dragon?" War snarled as she kept looking around the room. "I know it's here." Jason and Elisa both drew their guns on her as Matt came out of his room aiming his own weapon at her.

"Actually, I think you'll find that belongs to us." Hyena and Jackal said as they flipped inside the broken window as they came down from the roof.

"I would offer you a drink, but since your breaking and entering you'll have to forgive me if my manners are lacking." Matt said sarcastically.

Delilah sensing where the statue was leapt to attack Elisa. Both Jason and Elisa opened fire. They hit Delilah in the chest four times but it didn't slow her down and she grasped Elisa by the throat and lifted her into the air.

"Give me my dragon mortal, or I will choke the life out of you." War said as Delilah's eyes went red.

Jason went to intervene but was tackled by Jackal before he could get to her. His gun fell to the ground as he used both of his hands to hold Jackal's claws away from his face.

Hyena rushed towards Matt. Matt tried to fire his weapon but it jammed so he threw it at her. She slashed through it with her claws. Matt took advantage of the diversion and swept her feet out from under her as she got close.

Elisa struggled to breath as she kicked at War frantically. Just as she was about to pass out War dropped her to the ground as she was tackled to the ground herself by Adela.

Wolf watched from across the street waiting for the best time to join the fight. After seeing the second gargoyle arrive he decided to wait and see what happens.

Jason flipped Jackal off of him and quickly rolled to his feet as Jackal tried to get on his.

Matt grabbed a butcher knife off of his kitchen counter and slashed at Hyena. She blocked it with her claws and twisted around as she slashed again this time carving four diagonal lines into his chest.

Adela and War quickly rose to their feet as they squared off against one another.

"I'm glad that you came. You're supposed to wear my ring Demona. It's your destiny." War said as they circled each other.

"Never, I have created my own and I won't allow you to take it from me now." Adela said as she blocked a kick from War. Spinning she delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Wars face knocking her back to the ground. Elisa slowly got up after she caught her breath, and grabbed her pistol. She took aim and fired twice.

Jackal charged forward and then crashed to the ground in front of Jason with two bullet holes in his chest.

"Thanks." He said to Elisa as he turned to help Matt with Hyena.

"Don't thank me. I was tempted to shoot you too." Elisa muttered as she turned the gun on War and pulled the trigger. "Damn, I'm out of ammo." She said as she tossed the gun aside.

Before Jason could intervene Hyena lashed out with a wicked kick. Matt caught her leg in mid air and twisting around he picked her up and threw her. Hyena shrieked as she tried to catch on to something, but there was nothing to catch onto has she fell out of the window and fell ten stories before having her fall come to an abrupt end on top of a yellow mustang that was parked next to the entrance of the building. The impact killed her instantly. Wolf having watched everything decided to walk away.

War saw the statue as it laid on the ground. She faked a punch to Adela's right and then dove to the left as she snatched the statue off of the ground and ran for the open window.

Adela attempted to tackle her but missed and War dived out of the window and glided away. Adela rose to her feet slowly her ribs were still causing her pain and the exertion did little to help.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Elisa asked bitterly.

"It would seem that I am saving your life. Although, I don't know why I bothered." Adela replied angrily.

"Liz, she saved us. If it hadn't been for the distraction we could have all been killed just now." Jason pointed out.

"It's going to cost a fortune to clean this place up." Matt said wearily has he fell back on his couch.

"Come by the castle tomorrow night. I can give you the money to help with the damages." Adela said over her shoulder to Matt.

"Make sure you get it in writing." Elisa chuckled.

"I don't know what I have done to offend you Elisa, and frankly I don't care anymore." Adela snapped. "This is a good guy and I see you treating him like garbage. I am your friend and you're pushing me away. Is this all really because you still have a crush on my mate."

"Is that true Elisa?" Elisa balled her fists and looked as though she would punch Adela. For a few seconds she considered it but then sighed as she relaxed her hands. The statue's magic began to fade and with that the majority of her anger. However, she still held onto her original resentment towards Adela and Jason.

"Yes, it's true. I love Goliath and Goliath loves me. He's confused being your protector when you were in trouble for something else." Elisa said quietly.

"I thought we discussed this. He's not human Elisa. There is no future with him." Jason sighed. "I'm going to get a hotel and text you the address if you come to our room tonight then I will assume you want to continue this marriage. If you don't then I will file the paperwork in the morning." Jason said as he turned and left the room.

"Can't you see Elisa? You're causing everyone involved to be in pain. Some more figuratively than others." She said as she winced and placed her hand to her side again as the pain returned.

"I just don't know. I can't get Goliath off of my mind." Elisa said as she began tearing up again.

"I know how it is to obsess over him, but that's only because he is good and honorable. Your husband has those same qualities. Although, I never thought I would say that about a Canmore." Adela said. "It's your decision, but you'd be much better off letting yourself be happy with him." Adela went to leave. "Oh, by the way you owe me a rematch." Adela grinned as she glided out the window and headed back to the castle.

"If I can chime in here Liz, I think she has a point...Don't look at me that way...Liz, you know I'm right. What happened to you?" Matt patted the seat next to him.

"Do you have any ice cream." Elisa asked suddenly.

"Umm... I'm not sure, let me check." Matt walked to the fridge and looked through everything he had. "Ahh. there's some." He said as he took a half full carton of rocky road out of the fridge and took a couple of spoons and the carton over to the couch and sat next to her.

"It's just that every man in my life has disappointed me. My dad, my brother, Goliath, and I guess I'm just preemptively trying to end things before Jason can let me down." She took a spoonful of ice cream just then, and Matt took the opportunity to speak.

"I can relate to that. My father was a drunk and my mother a street walker. I know what it's like to be let down Liz, but if you keep down this path you'll find nothing but pain." Matt said as he got up and grabbed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses off of a rack and brought them back to where they were sitting. After a few glasses of wine Matt looked at her seriously for a moment.

"Liz, can I tell you a secret." He asked after a moment.

"Sure." She said as she scooted closer to him to get some more of the ice cream.

"I've always had a crush on you. I know how you feel, because I felt the same when you married Jason." Matt said honestly has he drank another glass.

"Why didn't you say anything." Elisa asked as she eyed him seriously for a moment and then drank another glass herself.

"I was always worried about how you would respond." He chuckled as he began to pour another glass. Elisa stopped him as she took the bottle and glasses away and set them on the table next to her. It was just then that she noticed the bleeding gashes on Matt's chest.

"Take off your shirt." She said as she stumbled into the bathroom to find bandages.

"Moving kind of quick aren't we?" Matt joked as he removed his shirt, Elisa gave him a dirty look but then grinned as she began to bandage him.

"Elisa..." Matt grabbed her hand as she finished bandaging him. They looked at each other silently for a moment, and then he found his lips on hers as he gave her a tentative kiss, and was surprised to feel her press against him as she wrapped her arms around him and continued kissing him.

...Back in Dracon's office he was being yelled at by Xanatos.

"If you hadn't sent them after it she wouldn't have killed them. I told you to wait and work with Delilah. I didn't tell you to send them in and now you've gotten two of my best agents killed." David shouted.

"I tried to tell him that." Wolf reiterated.

"It's not my fault you couldn't keep your damn gargoyle under control." Tony shouted back.

"From now on Dracon, you follow my instructions to the letter." David's eyes narrowed as he made his point.

"If I don't." Tony grinned.

"Then Tony I will be forced to end this partnership, and when I end it I will be forced to SEVER all loose ends. If you understand my meaning." David said as he walked out of his office and slammed the door behind him.

...Back at the castle.

"No, my love. I have handled the situation and if anything else happens I will deal with it." Adela said as Goliath and Brooklyn were listening to her story of what happened and asking questions.

"I'm amazed that you didn't kill her. The old Demona would have." Brooklyn said sounding truly impressed.

"I'm not the same old Demona anymore. I've changed my name, I've been nothing but kind maybe even too kind, and I have done everything I can to help where I can." Adela said rolling her eyes and feeling tears build up in them. _When will he trust me? What more can I possibly do?_

"It took initiative to attempt to stop the robbery and even though you were not successful I still applaud the effort." Brooklyn said as he walked over to her and reached out his hand. She took it gladly and he held hers for a moment. "I also admire the constraint you showed by not fighting with Elisa a second time or killing her while she was helpless. I know that I might have been tempted had she attacked me that way." Brooklyn smiled at her and she smiled back elated at the acceptance he was showing her. "Goliath, I have made my decision. Adela will take my place as second. If I have your approval to set this appointment." Brooklyn almost didn't get the last word out because Adela quickly hugged him tight while lifting him off of the ground in her excitement.

"Ughh...Ad...Adela, I...Can't...breathe." Brooklyn gasped out.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said putting him back down. Goliath chuckled as he walked over to the both of them.

"Are you certain you wish to renounce your position?" Goliath asked looking to Broadway.

"I do has long as you pick her to replace me. I would feel safest having her watch over us." He said as he backed away slightly to avoid another hug.

Goliath chuckled at that. "Very well, Adela today I make you my second in command. If you do not wish to accept the position you are free to nominate another..." Goliath couldn't finish his sentence as she leapt into his arms and kissed him roughly.

"I assume were all good here." Brooklyn said. He quietly left the room as Adela began removing her halter top.

...Back at Sevarius's lab.

"I assume you got what you were after." Death asked as War came into the room.

"I did my love, now we can transfer your consciousness from that weakened wretch to that behemoth." War said pointing to the Thailog clone. "Was it necessary to kill the doctor." She asked looking at Sevarius's corpse.

"He was a loose end, and besides we don't need him anymore." Death laughed as he took the statue.


	13. Chapter 12: Plans in Motion

Elisa began to kiss Matt harder as he began to lean back on the couch taking her with him when she suddenly stopped.

"I'm sorry Matt. I shouldn't have done that." Elisa said as she began to blush a deep crimson.

"No, I'm sorry Liz. I let that get out of control." Matt said as he put his shirt back on. Elisa checked her phone and found two texts from Jason.

"Oh, my god… What will I say to Jason? I have given him so much grief because I was afraid that he would let me down and now here I'm letting him down."

"Don't say anything. We stopped it before anything serious happened." Matt suggested. Elisa just nodded as she pulled up the texts.

 _1335 Breckinridge Road, Room 216, I hope to see you soon._

 _I stayed up as long as I can. I guess I have my answer. I wanted you to know that I have always loved you Elisa. I guess that you just don't feel the same way. I booked the next flight out. I hope you find happiness someday. –Love, Jason._

Elisa quickly searched for the earliest flights and discovered there was a plane leaving for Dallas in an hour.

"I'll never make it in time." Elisa said bitterly as she slumped on the couch.

"Yes, you will. Come on we need to run." Matt and Elisa quickly ran out the door and down the stairs to the lobby and then out to his car.

"Hold on we're going to be breaking some laws." Matt said as he attached his undercover light to the car. Then he flipped on the siren and floored the gas pedal as his car sped down the road.

…Back in Sevarius's lab.

Death paced back and forth impatiently while waiting for the statue to animate the Thailog clone enough so he could take possession of it.

"Patience my love, your new body will be ready soon." War said as she rubbed her hands together gleefully as she was looking over the balcony at her new army that she would soon animate and command.

"I've been waiting a millennia for this moment…but I guess you're right. What are a few more minutes?" He asked quietly as he tried to relax and wait for the process to complete.

"When we finish building our army what's our first target?" War asked as she began to weave her spell over the lifeless gargoyle clones.

Death looked thoughtful for a moment. "There's one person who might be able to replicate or destroy the doctor's work. Our first target will be David Xanatos."

...As Matt's car parked at the entrance of the airport Elisa quickly leapt out and ran inside looking for the flight Jason would be taking while Matt parked the car.

"NYPD!" She flashed her badge quickly to the nearest security guard. "I need you to get me to the plane departing for Dallas." She said as she put her badge away.

"Alright, come with me." He said as he ran with her and he took her around the security checkpoints.

 _What the hell am I going to say when we do get there?_ She asked herself over and over on the way to the terminal. Fortunately she didn't have much time to think it over because when they turned the next corner she found herself staring at the terminal they were looking for.

"Don't get on that plane!" She shouted as she stood where Jason would be able to clearly see her. She watched as everyone turned including Jason. He glance her way once and then shook his head as he went to turn back around. "Jason, please come back. I'm sorry for everything. I love you. I need you." Jason turned around and began to walk towards her.

"You're crazy, no you're absolutely insane. Do you know that?" Jason said as he got within two feet of her. He put his bag down and rubbed his hands together nervously as he spoke.

"I know, but that's what makes us so good together. Right?" She looked at him hopefully.

"No." She began to look heartbroken and turn away. "Not just good, it's what makes us perfect together." He smiled as she jumped into his arms and began kissing him to the applause of the other passengers and crew.

Matt arrived just in time to see the kiss. He felt as though his heart was breaking again when he saw it. Deep down even though he would never admit it to Elisa but he was hoping Jason would ruin everything so that he could pick up the pieces.

 _How selfish have I become?_ He asked as he tried to fight against those thoughts. He left quickly before anyone could notice him.

..."Thank you my love." Katana said as the gargoyles woke up, Brooklyn, Katana and Sion decided to go gliding around the city to relax. She was thrilled to hear that not only had Brooklyn renounced the position of second, but he had also shown trust in her friend Adela and chose her to replace him.

 _Now, I can stop hiding the fact that we're friends._ She thought happily as she discussed what happened the night before with Brooklyn.

"It was the right choice. She has proven herself many times. I was just too blind with hatred to notice." Brooklyn grinned as he held her hand as they glided through the air. Tonight they were teaching Sion how to glide. So, far they were both happy that Sion had nearly crashed only twice.

"Brooklyn, I have a confession to make. I have been friends with Adela for the last two years." Katana said as she kept glancing at him to see his reaction. Brooklyn looked angry for a moment and then sighed.

"If I had listened to you to begin with I probably would have had my eyes open sooner." Brooklyn said after he thought about it for a moment.

"So, you're not angry with me?" Katana asked hopefully.

"If I had found out sooner I would have been but now, no I'm not mad." Brooklyn said as he grinned at her.

...Back at the castle Goliath, Hudson, Adela, and Galvanis were discussing what to do about the Horsemen's reappearance.

"I must say my dear it is about time Goliath had a capable second and such a beautiful one at that." Galvanis said as they were studying maps of where Death and War had appeared.

"Although I appreciate the compliment, Brooklyn, is more than qualified to lead this clan if we have to depend on him. That's why he is my back up just in case I need him." Adela said as she shook her head while studying one of the maps. "If we're serious about fighting these horsemen then we are going to have to speak to Oberon. We need enough power to stand against them and sadly we do not."

"Aye Lass, you're right. We should go and talk with him." Hudson agreed.

"Very well, but not all of us will go." Goliath said as he eyed them each in turn. "Angela and I will go. Oberon likes me and I may be able to convince him to help. Plus, if we're going to Avalon it would be good for Angela to see her brothers and sisters."

"I will go with you. You'll need me watching your back." Adela said with a note of finality.

"No, my angel. Both the leader and second cannot go." Goliath said shaking his head.

"But I..." Adela began.

"No, he's right. You'll need to stay here. If we have an encounter with these horsemen we will need your experience." Galvanis pointed out.

"It's true Lass, we need you here." Hudson confirmed.

"Fine, I'll stay here." Adela said bitterly. "Goliath, can I speak with you in private?"

"Yes, just give me one moment. Hudson I need for you to research this statue. Go through the books in the library we should have some record of it. Galvanis, I need your clan to prepare for battle and also find anyone who can help us." Goliath stated as he turned to Adela and they headed out of the room together.

"Do you really think it will be that bad?" Galvanis smirked at Goliath.

"I think it'll be worse, much worse." Goliath sighed as he and Adela left.

"I've never seen him this worried before." Hudson said worriedly.

"This could be the end." Galvanis said shaking his head as he left.

Hudson stood there for a few moments by himself. _I really wish I had not lived to see this._ he thought shaking his head as he grabbed a few books and began to look through them.

"My love, I don't want you to leave without me." Adela admitted as soon as they were alone.

"It has to be done my angel, but to tell the truth I don't want to leave you here either." Goliath stated.

"Maybe I can come with you and Brooklyn can take over temporarily." Adela suggested.

"Galvanis is correct, they will need your knowledge of these beings. If they attack you will be the only one I trust to safeguard our clan." Goliath said as he kissed her. "I will be back as soon as I am able." Slowly he released her hands and went to go tell Angela.

 _I will miss you my love._ Adela thought bitterly as she went to help Hudson search through the library.

..."Who in the hell could that be?" Owen asked irritably as he went to answer the door.

"Hello, Puck we need to talk." Owen was in shock has he found himself standing in front of Death in his new body and War grinned at him.

..."We're really going back to Avalon?" Angela asked as she became excited.

"Yes, Tom will be picking us up shortly and then the three of us will head there." Goliath grinned at her as he watched her pack some of her belongings.

"This won't be solely a pleasure trip." He reminded her.

"I know, but I'm still happy to go back for a visit. Don't worry I will take this seriously." She said as she finished packing. Goliath grabbed the bag and they both walked out to the battlements to wait for Tom.


	14. Chapter 13: Avalon

Goliath and Angela waited on the battlements for Tom.

"Why can't my mother come with us?" Angela asked suddenly has Goliath was reading one of the few books he brought. "I was hoping to introduce her to my brothers and sisters."

"She is needed here." Goliath replied.

"Couldn't Brooklyn take over for a few days?" Angela asked. "Oh, look there's Tom." Angela said as she ran to the edge of the battlements to wave to her old friend.

Goliath walked up beside her. "I wish she could come as well, but believe me when I tell you that she is needed here, and we have to finish our part to help her."

Tom stopped the flying boat near the top of the battlements so Goliath and Angela could climb on.

"It's nice to see you again Tom." Angela said as she ran up to give him a hug.

"Angela, I've missed you. Avalon just isn't the same without you." Tom grinned as he hugged his old friend tightly.

"Tom, we need to get to Avalon as quickly as possible." Goliath said as he brought the bag onto the boat.

"I've heard, but what's the emergency." Tom asked as he began to steer the boat back in the direction he came from.

Goliath came closer to him and whispered. "The Apocalypse is here."

"Really? People have been predicting the end since I was a child Goliath." Tom chuckled.

"Were the Horsemen also running loose then?" Goliath asked sternly.

"Nope, that's a new one." Tom's eyes grew wide as he spoke. "I assume that Angela does not know about this."

"No, and I want to keep it that way until we have no other choice." Goliath replied.

"She's not a child anymore you know." Tom pointed out. "She may need to know what we are up against."

"I'll consider it." Goliath growled.

After a few hours the boat arrived in Avalon. As they departed they found that Oberon and Titania was waiting for them.

"Goliath, it's nice to see you again." Titania said as she came up to hug the gargoyle.

"And you my lady." He returned.

"Goliath, I know why you have come but I need you to know that we cannot help you officially." Oberon said as he stepped up to shake the gargoyles hand.

"Why not?" Goliath snarled in irritation.

"I am Fate Goliath; I can't willingly fight against destiny even if I completely disagree with it." Oberon replied.

"What's he talking about Father?" Angela asked as she looked at both of them curiously.

"You haven't told her. I guess I'm not surprised. It isn't good news after all." Oberon said as he went up to pat her on the shoulder. "The end of the world has begun. Two of the Horsemen currently walk the Earth and you should know that your mother was chosen to be the Horseman known as War."

"When were you going to tell me that?" Angela's eyes flared red as she rounded on Goliath.

"I wasn't until it was necessary." Goliath responded calmly.

"I had a right to know. Is that why we couldn't bring my mother? How did you intend to explain to me that my mother is now the Horseman of War when we returned?" Angela screamed as tears formed in her eyes.

"I was going to tell you nothing, because we are not going to allow that to happen." He stated angrily, then he sighed and calmly continued. "I also did not tell you because as your leader I have the right to make that choice. No, one else besides the council knows what is going on and we intended to keep it that way until we had no other choice."

"You should have stayed and enjoyed your last moments with her Goliath. I have sent the sisters to do their duty and you know that they will succeed." Oberon said sadly. "If it is any conciliation I wish that this didn't have to happen."

"You have to do something. You're the ruler of Avalon and the most powerful being I have ever met. Surely, you can help us." Angela tried to plead with him.

"I cannot. During the time you lived in Avalon Angela you should have learned that we are tasked to uphold destiny. If we fail in that mission then we cease to exist." Oberon said as he began to leave. "I wish things could be different."

"I need to visit my brothers and sisters and then we need to hurry back. I'm not letting my mother deal with this alone." Angela snarled as she walked forward.

…"Elisa, I won't pretend to understand what's been going on the past few years, but if you want to talk I would love to listen." Jason said as he was driving a rental car back to the hotel he stayed at the night before.

"I'm so sorry for acting the way I did." Elisa said earnestly. "I just hope you can forgive me."

"I'm sure you can convince me to." Jason chuckled. Elisa couldn't help but laugh at that. Suddenly Jason slammed on the brakes.

"What the he…" Elisa started but then she noticed the three sisters standing in front of their car.

"You two will do just fine." They said in unison. Suddenly there was a bright yellow flash and Elisa,Jason, and the Fates disappeared.

..."Hello Puck." Death said as he thrust the door open knocking Owen to the ground. Owen quickly changed and Puck rolled to his feet, but War delivered a kick to his head knocking back to the ground.

"Where's that boss of yours?" Death asked as he kneeled down over him. A bright green light flared from Puck as he fired a ray into Death's chest knocking him through the ceiling. Getting to his feet quickly he drew his blades as War leapt at him. He dodged to the right and brought his knee up striking her in the mid section causing her to double over.

Death suddenly appeared behind him and drew a white blade that appeared to be made of light.

Puck ducked just in time to dodge the attempt to sever his head, and then rolled to deliver a quick to War's head as she was attempting to stand. He quickly stood and turned, but was too late as he felt Death's blade enter his chest. Puck screamed as Death withdrew his blade.

War lifted herself up and stood next to Death.

"Where is Xanatos?" Death asked.

Puck's body began to glow a bright green as his eyes filled with hate as he stared at Death.

"Fuck YOU!" He shouted as an explosion emanated from him. The explosion destroyed everything within a five mile radius.

..."Father, you remember Gabriel." Angela reintroduced her father to the leader of the Avalon clan.

"Yes, of course. I wish that we had returned under better circumstances." Goliath said as the two shook hands for a moment.

"Yes, I heard of the plight that your world faces." Gabriel said as they walked through the castle.

"Is there any help you can offer us?" Gabriel looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not much, we cannot afford to anger Oberon." He pointed out.

"What about Arthur. We can wake him. He's supposed to return when he is most needed, and I cant think of a better time than now." Ophelia, Angela's rookery sister said as she came into the room.

"He returned after last time we woke him?" Goliath asked in surprise.

"Yes, he's sleeping now. I suppose we could but we would need to be cautious and make sure Oberon does not discover our involvement."

..."Where are we? Where have you little demons taken us?" Elisa asked as she opened her eyes and found that she and Jason were both tied to chairs in a dark room. She noticed then that Jason appeared to be unconscious, and was bleeding from a split lip.

"If you do not behave I will have to make you as I did with him." The black haired fate shook her head.

"Why have you brought us here?" Elisa asked as she took a moment to calm down and survey her surroundings.

"Because you two are the perfect vessels." The white haired fate said as she carried a large urn to the table between her and Jason.

The blonde haired fate took the lid off of the lid of the urn and began to chant as the other two picked up a decorated box and placed it on the table.

Thick black smoke began to emerge from the urn. Elisa watched in horror as half of the smoke went into Jason's mouth as the white haired fate took the green ring and placed it on his finger.

"Pestilence is reborn." The blonde fate shouted.

Elisa tried to scream as the black haired fate grabbed her hand and slipped the ring on as she could feel the smoke enter her body.

"Famine is reborn. All of the Horsemen have a vessel. Now, the summoning can begin." The blonde Fate shouted as she shut the urn.

"What about Demona?" The white haired fate asked.

"She'll play her role soon enough." The blonde smirked at her.

...Death and War picked themselves up through the rubble of Xanatos's destroyed house.

"What do we do now?" War asked bitterly.

"We find Xanatos. Come we don't have much time." Death said as he left the ruined house.

...Adela heard a loud thud in the room next to the library.

"What was that?" She asked looking at Hudson, but he was already on his way to the door.

As they opened the door Puck fell on the ground at their feet. He was still bleeding from the stab wound from Death, and had turned a pale white.

"Puck what happened to you?" Adela asked as she began trying to bandage his wound when she saw it had gotten infected by something.

"Hudson, have you ever seen anything like this?" Adela asked as she started to worry about her friend.

"No Lass, I'll speak to Galvanis about it, but there may be an answer in these stacks." Hudson said as he left the room. Adela tore through the books looking for anything she could find to help.

...Goliath, Angela, Gabriel, and Ophelia we're leaving the castle when they heard Titania call for them to hold on a minute.

"Goliath, I am sorry that we cannot help you officially, but here." She said as she held out a golden orb. "You'll need this to return Pendragon to life. I hope he can help you."

"Thank you my lady." Goliath said as he accepted the orb.

"I'll buy you as much time as I can. Now, get moving." She said as she went back inside.

"Well, you heard her. Let's go." Goliath said as the group left for Arthur's tomb.

..."Hudson, I believe I've found something that might help." Adela rushed over to him with a book she found.

"Aye Lass it might, but you haven't used any magic since the Arch-mage was removed from you." Hudson pointed out.

"I have to try. Help me gather the ingredients for the spell." Adela said as she went over the spell.

"Are you certain Lass. This spell could consume you." Hudson said worriedly.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. When I was in trouble he risked his life for me. I can do no less now." Adela said as she tried to convince the mentor of what needed to be done.

"Very well, I will try to help where I can, but I will decide how far you can push yourself." Hudson advised.

"Alright, go get the ingredients and we'll get started." Adela opened the book and began reading over how to cast the spell.


	15. Chapter 14: Heating up

"Sit down my dear. We need to talk." Gruoch had just arrived home from her meeting with Xanatos, and was surprised as Macbeth flipped on a lamp in the living room revealing Macbeth's presence.

"Oh, you startled me." Gruoch said shaken as she took a seat next to him.

"What were you doing with Xanatos?" Macbeth asked angrily as he stared into her eyes.

"I was doing what needed to be done." She said sadly as she stared at the floor. "We needed his help in getting the serum for Luoch." She said bitterly.

"What did you have to do to get it?" Macbeth asked quietly.

"I had to kill three men and one woman, find a talisman, and the last job he made me do was use my mouth on him." Gruoch said in disgust.

"Why would you not tell me about it?" Macbeth shouted angrily.

"Because you would have stopped me, and we needed this cure." Gruoch said as she pulled out a small vial with a blue liquid inside. Macbeth stared at it angrily for a moment. "I love you Macbeth. I swear to you that I wouldn't have done anything with that creep if it wouldn't save our son's life." Gruoch came over and kissed him. Then looked him in the eyes, as Macbeth stared into her eyes he could see the love she held for him in them.

"You didn't just meet with him did you?" He grinned at her. She gave him a playful slap on his shoulder.

"Yes, but I brushed my teeth and washed my mouth out very well before coming home." Macbeth was still angry, but his anger was directed at Xanatos.

"Let's head up and try out this serum." Macbeth said as he took the vial. They walked up to Luoch's room and inside the room was a makeshift hospital bed. There was a heart monitor and several other machines hooked up to monitor Luoch's condition. Macbeth walked up to Luoch's side as he took a syringe and loaded all the serum into it.

"Are you certain we need to use it all?" Macbeth asked as he began to look for the vein.

"That's what he told me." Gruoch confirmed.

"I will kill him when this is done." Macbeth stated as he could feel his anger rising again.

"Please let us just forget it my love." Gruoch would have said more but the heart monitor showed Luoch's heart rate had changed and became steady. Luoch slowly opened his eyes and looked at his parents as they looked relieved.

Luoch slowly sat up and looked around not recognizing his surroundings for a moment.

"What happened to me?" Luoch asked as he tried to stand. He nearly fell back but Macbeth quickly caught him and helped him to stand. "What's wrong with my legs?"

"You've been bedridden the past two years so your legs will take time to adjust." Macbeth said as he helped him to walk a few steps. "We were hoping that you could tell us what happened. Matt brought you here after a case you two were working. He wanted to take you to a hospital, but we thought it would be best here."

"Someone shot you in the back. We thought for sure that you were going to die, but we found a way to pull you out of the coma." Gruoch said as she came up to hug him.

"I can't remember." Luoch said in frustration. "Can you help me to my desk?" Macbeth helped him walk to his desk. He eased his son into his chair and Luoch quickly began looking through his drawers. "Where are they?" He shouted frantically.

"Where are what?" Gruoch asked as she came closer.

"My case files. They're missing." Luoch said in frustration as he tore through his drawer. "All of my case files involving Tony Dracon have disappeared." Luoch shouted angrily as he slammed the drawer shut.

"Do you remember the last thing you were doing before you were shot?" Macbeth asked as he pulled up and chair and sat next to him.

"Matt and I had finally gathered enough intel on Dracon to make the arrest. It was going to be a career collar for us both. We arrived at his club and decided to go in back, and…I just can't remember what happened next." Luoch said as he tried to stand again. Macbeth went to help again, but Luoch waved him off as he slowly began to walk forward using the desk and furniture as support.

"We should talk with Matt again and see if he remembers anything else." Gruoch said as she came up to hold her son tightly to her.

"I agree. I will go to see him now." Macbeth said as he began to leave.

"No, I will do it. Just give me a few minutes to get my legs to work properly." He said firmly as he began to take a few more steps.

"Very well, but I will accompany you." Luoch looked as though he would argue but Macbeth raised his hand to halt his argument. "If Tony finds out you're not dead you'll need backup." Macbeth pointed out.

"Alright, give my legs a chance to get used to walking again and we'll go to Matt's apartment. After a few hours Luoch could walk better with the assistance of a cane. Macbeth and Luoch headed out to speak to Matt.

…"You're not our mother." Famine said as she looked at War.

"Who are you?" Pestilence asked as he came closer to her.

"I am indeed your mother." War said patiently. "Do not worry; I will have my true form returned to me very soon." War stated as she showed them the ring.

"When do we get to start having fun again?" Pestilence asked as he grinned at her while rubbing his ring.

"What century is this?" Famine asked as she studied her surroundings.

"This… my dear children is the twenty first century, and this time Fate will not intervene with our plans, because we are destined to release our master." Death stated as he climbed the stairs into Dr. Sevarius's old lab and their new meeting place.

"When do we break the seals?" Pestilence and Famine asked simultaneously.

"We need to retrieve the first one, and to do that we need to find Xanatos." Death said bitterly.

"I can help with that." Famine said suddenly. "This woman I am in has knowledge of Xanatos's hideouts."

"Good, let's go." Death said as all four of the Horsemen left the lab.

…Goliath's group reached Arthur's tomb. They made their way slowly inside. Just as they crossed the entrance they began holding their ears and fell to their knees as a loud wailing scream seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"You don't belong here. Go NOW!" The Banshee screamed as she continued to wail.

"We have to get out of here." Angela shouted as she began to back out of the entrance. Suddenly, the wailing stopped as the Banshee found her mouth closed on its own.

Looking around the gargoyles were all stunned to see the Arch-mage standing behind them. His staff was aimed at the Banshee and was glowing blue.

"If you're going to run I suggest you hurry." The Arch-mage said as he continued to hold her.

Without looking back the four gargoyles ran inside the tomb and shut the door behind them.

"You will pay for that you treacherous fiend." The Banshee screamed as she flew towards him while extending her claws.

"You're one to speak of treachery." He replied while firing a lightning bolt that struck her in the chest knocking her back into the doorway of the tomb. The Banshee rose and glared at him for a moment and then smiled wickedly as she began to vanish.

"Let us just see what Lord Oberon has to say about this." She laughed as she disappeared. The Arch-mage quickly entered the tomb.

... "I wish you would take it easy and let me help you beloved." Lexington said worriedly as he found Silvara rearranging their room.

"I'm not a hatchling that needs to be coddled." Silvara said bitterly. Lex looked hurt by that and she immediately felt sorry for snapping at him. "I know you want to help me love, but I can still do things even while carrying our egg." She said as she hugged him. "I know why you're concerned though and I love you for it." She said as she kissed him.

"Speaking of hatchlings, how are Sion, Drake, and Amelia doing?" Lex asked as they began to work on moving the book shelves together. Since everyone else had become busy Katana and Silvara offered to babysit all of the hatchlings in the rookery.

"They are well. We start gliding practices tomorrow." Silvara said as she put the books away.

"That should be exciting." Lex grinned at her.

"Oh, sure…" She said as she rolled her eyes. "It'll be nothing but falls and scrapes." She said miserably.

…Matt arrived back at his room, and went to hang his coat up. Hearing a sound he quickly dropped the coat and turned while drawing his pistol.

"You should really learn to lock your door." Luoch grinned at him from his couch. Macbeth spun to face him in the swivel chair.

"We need to speak to you Matt. It's important if it wasn't I promise we would not be here." Macbeth said as he rose from the chair.

"L…Luoch, I thought you were dead." Matt said as he came up to hug his friend.

"Ow, be careful. I'm still a little sore." Luoch said while grinning at his friend.

"Oh, yes. Sorry about that. How are you? When did you wake up?" Matt asked as he took a seat with his friend. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Actually, we were hoping that you could help to fill in the blanks for us. I remember pulling up to Dracon's club and then us going around back, but I can't remember anything after that." Luoch said. Matt looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It all happened so fast. We arrived at the door and I remember seeing Dracon's thugs coming from around the corner, and the next thing I remember was hearing the shot and you lying in my arms bleeding." Matt said as he tried to remember that night. "I wanted to get you to the hospital, but you begged me to bring you to your family."

"I'm glad you were there. Have you seen my files on the Dracon case?" Luoch asked suddenly.

"I haven't seen them, but that case is over so we probably won't need them now." Matt said as he got up to fix himself a drink.

"Not need them? Weren't you the one obsessed with catching him?" Luoch asked in shock.

"A lot has changed in the last two years." Matt said as he shook his head. "Damn." He cursed as he tripped over one of the bigger pieces of the smashed window. With the absence of the glass he had put up a tarp to cover that side of his wall, however there were several large pieces he couldn't move and needed the construction team to help with and they wouldn't be there for another two days.

"So, that's it? After everything he has done we just drop it?" Luoch yelled as he came closer to Matt.

"That's the job. We investigate who we're told to, and no one else." Matt said calmly.

"Come on Dad. Let's go home." Luoch said suddenly.

"For what it's worth I am truly sorry." Matt said as Luoch and Macbeth left the apartment.

"Why did we leave?" Macbeth whispered to Luoch as they walked to the elevator.

"He was lying." Luoch stated angrily as the elevator door opened.

…"Are you sure about this spell Adela?" Hudson looked at her worriedly as she mixed together the ingredients that he had brought her.

"I'm sure it will help him." She said referring to Puck.

"Alright, what can I do to help?" Hudson asked as he watched her finalize the preparations for the spell.

"Nothing, I am ready. I just need you to exit the room so I can concentrate." Adela said calmly. As he went to leave she looked over her shoulder. "Thank you Hudson, I couldn't have finished this without you."

"You're welcome Lass; I just hope you come out of there alright." Hudson said as he gave her one last worried look before he shut the door.

…After searching many of Xanatos's hideouts they finally came to the docks. They found the old warehouse that Jonny Treblanc had used to run his illegal activities when he was alive.

"Are you certain he's…" Before Death could finish the question a laser beam struck him in the chest knocking him back twenty yards as David burst through the door firing at the remaining Horsemen.

"You're trespassing." David said as he continued firing.

The three Horsemen leapt out of the way, but David in his red steel gargoyle suit was faster and fired two more times striking Pestilence in the head and the chest. Famine screamed in rage as Pestilence fell to the ground. David dodged to the left as she hurled a ball of spores at him. They missed him but began to cover the building and eat the wood. As David rolled he raised his laser to fire again, but received a quick vicious kick to the side of his head knocking him to the ground. She picked him up swiftly but before she could do anything he started the rockets and flew up a few feet as he broke her grip and hurled her into a propane truck causing it to explode. The explosion knocked all of the Horsemen and Xanatos several yards away.

Death picked up Xanatos. "You will pay for that." He said as he punched him again and again until his helmet flew off. Suddenly both Death and Xanatos were shot multiple times and crashed to the ground. The armor saved Xanatos and other than shock Death was also unharmed.

"NO!" War shouted as she flew up to strike the mortal who dared to fire upon a Horseman. "Ughh.." She was suddenly shocked by the defense system of Macbeth's aerial bike, and fell back to the ground with a loud thud. Pestilence looked up just in time to see Macbeth throw Xanatos across the back of his vehicle.

"This sword can kill even a Horseman!" He shouted at them as he brandished his blade. The blade looked normal except for the runes on both sides and the occasional blue flash. "Follow me and I will kill you." Macbeth finished as he took off from the docks.

A few minutes later he landed back at his house and after he parked the bike he threw David to the ground and got off the bike.

"You shot me." Xanatos shouted as he quickly rose to his feet. Macbeth quickly kicked him back to the ground.

"You can thank my wife for the fact you're still breathing." Macbeth said as he stomped on his chest as he walked over him.

"What have I done to you?" David asked as he sat up again.

"You disrespected me in the worst way that one man can disrespect another." Macbeth snarled. "My wife asked me to be lenient with you, and I love her too much to refuse, but if you give me just one reason I will kill you. Now, tell me what you know of these Horsemen and the seals of Lucifer's cage."

…Hudson felt a strong blast come from the room inside. He ran in and found Puck sitting up and Adela lying unconscious on the floor. He rushed over to her.

"Adela…Adela, come on wake up." He said as he shook her. He turned to Puck. "What happened?"

Puck just shook his head. "I don't know I'm sorry. She's alive I can feel it, but I think she has over exerted herself and as a result needs to rest." Puck said as he slowly stood. "Thank you both for helping me." He said as he looked at her. "She'll be fine. Help me bring her to her chambers. After a day of sleep she should be okay again. I will check on her to be certain."

"Thank you." Hudson said as lifted up Adela effortlessly in his arms. "Just open the doors for me Lad."

"It's the least I can do for her saving my life." Puck said as he helped Hudson put her to bed. "It was a very brave thing she did If I had not opened my eyes and stopped her she would have died."

"I am grateful you did." Hudson replied as they walked out of the room.

…In Arthur's tomb the group approached the back where the King was laid to rest. Goliath pulled out the sphere that Titania had given them and began to chant the words to bring him back from his slumber. After a few moments the Arch-mage appeared beside him.

"Even with that you do not have enough power to raise the King." He pointed out.

"You!" Goliath said as he got up. His eyes went white and he looked as though he may attack.

"We don't have time to fight right now creature. The banshee has undoubtedly already informed Oberon of my betrayal. Let me help you so we can get out of here." The Arch-mage said earnestly.

"You caused my mother to turn away from us!" Angela screamed as she leapt at him.

Ophelia stopped her. "Now is not the time dear. We need to get out of here before Oberon finds us."

"She's right." Gabriel confirmed as he looked to Goliath.

"Very well…Cast the spell, but know this. If you try anything I will rip you apart." Goliath growled.

The Arch-mage quickly grabbed the sphere and began to chant. The power swirled around him and the casket containing Arthur began to glow. The glow flashed a very bright yellow that nearly blinded the group. When they could see again they saw Arthur standing in front of them.

…Matt left his apartment and headed to the station. Luoch crept from his hiding place and quickly picked the lock to Matt's door.

"What am I looking for?" He asked himself as he began searching through the different files Matt had spread all over his desk. He heard a noise at the door and quickly hid in the closet next to his office and he watched has someone entered the apartment.


	16. Chapter 15: Betrayal

Luoch listened as he heard the light footsteps come closer to where he was hiding.

"Luoch? Luoch…Are you here?" He could hear his mother whispering as she walked around the apartment. Luoch came out to meet her.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Luoch asked in a fierce whisper as he went back to searching Matt's desk.

"I was concerned so I followed you here. Why did you break into Matt's apartment?" She asked as she came up to him to see what he was looking for.

"I think he's hiding something, and I need to find out what it is." Luoch said as he pulled three files from a drawer in the desk and sat down to study them.

"So, you think he might have been working with Dracon?" She asked as she sat next to him.

"Yes, no, I don't know. I just need to discover what he is hiding." Luoch said as he discarded the first folder and opened the second. "He was my friend…my mentor, and until I find proof I don't want to assume that."

"Alright, let me help." She said as she took the third folder.

"There's nothing in these folders." He said as irritation crept into his voice. He opened the drawer and reached to the back hoping to find something when he pushed against the bottom of the drawer he was shocked to feel that it depressed. He pushed again just to be sure and it did it again. He pulled the drawer out of the desk and placed it on top of the desk.

"What have you found?" Gruoch asked as she leaned forward.

"There's a false bottom on this drawer." Luoch replied as he felt for a crevice or a latch. "There you are." He said as he put his finger through a small crevice and lifted the false bottom off and put it to the side. Inside the drawer he found to forty five millimeter pistols with two stacks of ammo, five passports, a leather bound journal, and the bottom was lined with one hundred dollar bills that totaled to a little over one hundred thousand dollars.

"What's this?" Gruoch asked as she picked up the journal and began to flip through it.

…"Why have you awoken me?" Arthur asked as he stood before the gargoyles. "What century is it?" He asked as he walked up to Goliath. "I remember you. You were here the last time I was awakened. Have you woken me early yet again?"

"My apology for awakening you again, however now is the correct time." Goliath started.

"The Apocalypse has begun." Angela blurted out suddenly. Goliath gave her a disapproving look as he continued.

"Now is the time that you have been preserved for." He said as he stepped closer to him.

"The situation does sound dire. At last I am needed once more. Very well creature, I must first reclaim Excalibur and there is an old friend I must meet who will be of great value to us during this crusade." Arthur said as he began walking towards the entrance of the tomb.

"Oberon is waiting for us outside." The Arch-mage spoke up suddenly. Arthur looked at him suddenly. "Merlin, old friend I thought I would never see you again." Arthur exclaimed as he came up to hug his old friend. The gargoyles looked on the scene in shock.

"Don't look so surprised beasts. Over the centuries I have gone by many names." Merlin said as he grinned at the stunned gargoyles.

"How have you survived all this time my friend." Arthur asked as he looked closer at him. "You haven't aged a day."

Merlin pointed to Goliath. "His mate is to thank for my continued existence." He said as he looked at Goliath. "As a matter of confession Goliath I admit that my behavior while I was in her mind was inexcusable and even my anger towards Prince Malcolm and his father for dismissing me as the advisor to the throne." He sighed as he continued. "When I felt that I was dying I used Demona to extend my life. I only intended to hide in her subconscious at first, but then I wanted to control more and more."

"You had no right." Goliath growled as his eyes flared white.

"I know that now beast, however then I hungered for life and power. I would have done anything to gain more, and I did." Merlin sighed as he looked Goliath in the eyes. "You should know Goliath that Demona is the mother of two of the Horsemen."

"What? How is that possible?" Angela asked before Goliath could respond.

"I know all about it. My angel told me everything." Goliath stated.

"And you still melded your soul with hers. I may not have given you enough credit Goliath." He looked at him as if seeing the gargoyle for the first time.

"How do we get out of…?" Arthur began.

"When were you planning on telling me this? Not only is my mother destined to be the Horseman known as War, but she is also the mother of two of those things!" She shouted angrily at Goliath.

"We will speak of this later." Goliath said.

"How could you keep…?" Angela began.

"I said we will discuss it when we get home!" Goliath growled and Angela knew she had overstepped so she became quiet as he gave her a hard stare.

"Merlin, how do we exit this tomb?" Arthur asked. Merlin thought for a minute and then pulled out an ancient looking globe from his bag that started out two inches in height but grew to stand three feet tall. He placed it on a table and turned it until he found what he was looking for.

"We will teleport to the Lady of the lake to retrieve your sword, and then to the Isle to free Lancelot." Merlin said as he began to chant.

…Adela awoke the next morning and tried to sit up, but her head felt as though a nail was being drilled through it so she laid back down. Hudson came into check on her and was happy to see her eyes were open.

"I was worried about you. After you wouldn't wake up I thought the worst." Hudson said as he came to sit next to her.

"Water." Adela barely managed to say in a hoarse whisper. Hudson got up to get it when Puck came in already carrying a pitcher of water and a glass. He poured some of the water into the glass and spoke some words over it before giving it to her.

"Thank you for saving my life. It is probably the most selfless thing anyone has ever done for me." Puck said as he sat next to her while she gulped down the water and he refilled the glass.

"You did the same for me." She whispered as she finished her second glass of water.

"I have cast a spell on the water. Soon, you should feel like your normal self again…Don't worry there are no side effects." He said as she gave him a dark look. "It's just purifying your body. The spell you cast taints the blood stream and pushes you to the point of death unless it is interrupted. I am very happy that I was able to interfere last night."

"As am I." Hudson said as he squeezed her shoulder gently. "I have to go tend to Bronx. Make sure she gets her rest." He said to Puck as he left the room.

"I will." Puck said, and he stayed with her the rest of the night until she fell asleep again with the dawn. Whenever she needed help getting somewhere or needed water or food he quickly provided it.

…"Where is the Talisman of Ulna?" Macbeth asked as he paced back and forth in front of Xanatos. He had tied Xanatos to a chair as he questioned him.

"What are you talking about? I have never heard of such an artifact." David was wearing his customary suit, because Macbeth had removed the Steel Clan suit from him.

"This." Macbeth said as he held up a picture of a medallion with the picture of a chalice on it. "This medallion is the first seal keeping the devil in his cage. If the Horsemen get to it they will use it to start the Apocalypse."

"I don't know what happened to it. It disappeared from my collection years ago." David said as he tried to loosen the ropes keeping him secured to the chair.

"I'm growing tired of asking." Macbeth stated angrily as he drew his sword. "Tell me now where the medallion is so we can protect it."

"Listen to me." David said as he grinned up at him. "The medallion was stolen years ago, but I always suspected who the thief was."

"And who might that be?" Macbeth asked impatiently. David just glared back at him.

"Demona, she couldn't take her eyes off of it when she visited my vault the first time and it disappeared soon after. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it makes sense that she would have been the one to take it." Macbeth lowered his sword to David's chest and he was tempted to push it through, but he stopped himself. Twisting the blade down he sliced the ropes.

"We're going to visit the gargoyles. If you're lying to me I will show you tortures from my time that you couldn't even imagine in this age." Macbeth said as he turned to walk away. "Oh, and if you come near Gruoch again by the time I have finished you won't be able to identify yourself as a man." He finished as he stepped to the hover bike and started it up. "What are you waiting for? Get on."

…The Horsemen arrived at a small town outside of the city. As they walked into it the residences looked at them strangely and began to close and lock their doors as they passed by.

"Everyone is hiding from us? That's just rude." Pestilence said as he made himself float into the air. As he became parallel with the roofs of the houses he released a green gas from his fingertips. The gas went into the chimneys of each of the houses as he landed back beside the other Horsemen.

"Was that necessary?" Death asked as they continued forward.

"No, but it was fun." He chuckled as he received a glare from Death.

"Are you certain the medallion is this way?" Famine spoke up suddenly.

"Yes, I can feel it. I think that Demona has had it all along." War said patiently.

"Then why don't we teleport there?" The siblings asked at once.

War glared at them. "Because there is some kind of warding setup to block us." She snapped irritably.

"Are we there yet?" Famine asked with a giggle.

"Are we there yet?" Pestilence tried to ask but started laughing as they both received hateful stares from War. "You said to blend in. Isn't this how humans behave when their bored."

…"Adela, how are you feeling?" Puck asked as he walked into the room and noticed that she was sitting up and drinking her tenth glass of water.

"I'm feeling much better Puck thank you." Adela said as she stood unsteadily on her feet.

"I have some news." Puck said timidly. "The Horsemen are on their way here now. I have placed a curse on them so they cannot teleport, but even walking they will be here in a few days."

"How many?" Dread crept into her voice as she spoke.

"Five at the most." Puck stated,

"Hudson!" Adela called out knowing he would be close by. She only had to wait a moment before he came rushing into the room.

"It's good to see you up and around Lass." Hudson smiled as he came in.

"Thank you, Hudson I need you to gather every available gargoyle and human ally that we have close by, and have them in the conference room in three hours."

"What's happening, Lass?" Hudson asked concerned by the sudden change in her.

"The end of the world." She said in a half whisper.

…"I'm never going to get this." Drake said for the fifth time as he rubbed his sore shoulder that he crashed on during his last gliding attempt. Sion chuckled as she watched him while gliding through the air. She was learning fast and quickly surpassed the other two hatchlings.

She landed next to Drake grinning. "You see that. I'm the best. Ha." She said as she taunted him.

"Sion, what did we talk about last night?" Katana asked as she walked up close to them.

"No bragging…" She said as she stared at the ground.

"Exactly, now…" Katana didn't get to finish her sentence as Adela came out and called Katana and Silvara to her.

"Play." Katana said to them as she and Silvara glided down to meet Adela.

"We need everyone we can find in the conference room now." Adela said as they approached her.

"What about the hatchlings?" Silvara asked.

"Tell them to get into the rookery and stay there." Adela ordered as she went back inside.

"Head inside dear, I will send them inside and join you in a minute." Katana said as she headed to the tower to climb up.

…Luoch looked again at the book disbelieving what his eyes were showing him. The journal Matt kept was a list of payments he had received from Dracon and various other criminals. On the day that he was shot there was a payment of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Luoch dropped the book and stood there in shock for a moment. Gruoch picked it up and as she read the numbers she couldn't understand anything in it.

"What does all of this mean?" She asked as she flipped through the pages.

"It means it was my best friend who shot me in the back." Luoch said angrily as he swiped the drawer and its contents off of the table.

"So, it is clear to me what has to happen now." Gruoch said softly.

"He was my friend." Luoch said still in shock.

"Now he's your enemy, and it's up to us to make things right." Gruoch said as she began to leave than she stopped and picked up one of the pistols that were knocked to the floor. "Nice gun." She said as she walked out the door with it. Luoch grabbed the other one and the pack of ammo and Matt's date book then he followed her.

…After Merlin cast his spell Goliath's group found themselves on an island. Looking around they found an oasis in the center.

"Everyone stay here. I must go alone." Arthur commanded as he walked forward. As he approached the Oasis the water began to glow bright silver and a beautiful woman flew from the lake and floated five feet in the air above it. The woman had long white hair that cascaded down to past her shoulders. She had pale skin and crystal blue eyes. She had no scars or marks on her and she wore a bright silver dress.

"Arthur, my love it has been too long since you have visited me." She said mournfully.

"I know Lady. I wish I had the time to visit now, but unfortunately my time here is short. I have come to retrieve Excalibur to fulfill the purpose for which I have long slept." Arthur said to her as he stepped forward.

"It is indeed the dark time that was prophesied a millennia ago. I will give you the blade of kings, but it must be returned to me as soon as the battle has ended." She said as another glow appeared in the water. After a moment the sword came out of the water and landed in her hands. She held it out to him. As he accepted the sword from her he stepped closer and kissed her. The kiss caught her off guard, but she didn't pull away. As he backed away and belted on his sword Arthur looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

"This will be my last mission. After this if I survive I want to come here to live with you." Arthur said as he waved good bye to her.

"I would like that very much. It's been very lonely here the last few centuries. I would like very much to have you here with me if that is what you truly desire." As she said that she waved good bye and disappeared back into the lake.

Arthur walked back to the group, and told them next they needed to get to Istar.

"Why Istar?" Merlin asked as he pulled out his globe.

"Because, now we free Lancelot from his imprisonment and continue on our journey." Arthur replied.

"Why do we need him?" Goliath asked suddenly.

Arthur sighed as he thought of the best way to answer. "Lancelot is the only knight that could defeat me in a joust. So, he will be a valuable ally in the fight to come, and he is the only one of my knights that is still alive."

"He's also the only one that was stupid enough to bed your wife." Merlin chuckled, but quieted down under Arthur's intense gaze.

"Yes, in the past he did betray me. Neither of us was perfect, but if we can put that behind us and work together than I can forgive him." Arthur said as Merlin began to chant the spell.

…After dropping Gruoch off at home Luoch drove to Dracon's club. According to Matt's date book he would be there in an hour.

 _And I'll be waiting for him._ Luoch thought angrily as he floored the accelerator.


	17. Chapter 16: Revelations

Arthur, Merlin, and Goliath's group appeared at the Istar docks. The once great civilization was nothing more than ruins now and as they left the boat they all felt as if they were being watched.

"What just happened, Merlin? I thought we were supposed to appear where Lancelot is being held." Arthur said as he drew his sword.

"Something is blocking me. This is the closest I could get us." Merlin said as he looked around nervously.

"Goliath, I need you and your friends to climb those buildings and give us a hawk's view of the area." Arthur said as they all made their way forward.

"Very well, Gabriel I need you and Ophelia to handle the left side while Angela and I handle the right." Goliath said as they headed for the buildings and began to climb.

"There's something powerful here Arthur." Merlin said nervously as they steadily made their way through the ruins. Goliath and the gargoyles glided through the air as they surveyed the land around them. As they went further North Angela was suddenly shocked by an invisible field and began to fall.

"Angela!" Goliath shouted as he dove after her. He caught her just before she hit the ground. "What happened?" He asked as he gently set her down.

"I don't know. Out of nowhere I suddenly felt electricity running all through me and I lost control of my body for a few moments." She said as she walked towards Arthur and Merlin with her father's assistance.

"Is she alright Goliath?" Gabriel asked as he and Ophelia came to check on them.

"I think so. Something stunned her for a moment. We should head back and tell them what we've found." Goliath said as he wrapped an arm around Angela's shoulders and began to help her walk.

"What happened?" Arthur asked as he saw them walking out of one of the ruined buildings.

"There's a barrier. It stopped us from going any further. There's nothing around that we could find except more ruins." Goliath informed them.

"That would explain why we were stopped on the docks." Merlin said uneasily.

"What's doing this Merlin?" Arthur asked as they made their way to the barrier.

"There's only one being strong enough to block me and cast a barrier like this." Merlin said as he looked around nervously. A rumbling sound came from deep beneath the ground and suddenly the ground erupted directly in front of them causing them to fall to the ground as out of the new hole sprang many green skinned creatures. They appeared to be no taller than four feet and they wore ancient looking leather armor and carried various archaic weapons.

Merlin's eyes glowed blue as a large fireball launched from his hands and struck the lead group of goblins. Many of the goblins died instantly. The others howled in rage and began their attack. Arthur deflected an arrow meant for his head and then used Excalibur to remove the head off of the first goblin to reach him.

The gargoyles quickly climbed the building next to them as the hole in the ground opened up. After the fireball exploded the gargoyles leapt from the building attempting to kill as many as they can by diving down and attacking with their claws before gliding back up and then repeated the attacks.

As the battle raged on the ground gave way more and out of the massive hole in the ground an extremely large red reptilian looking creature with wings came out from the tunnels below. It was over three hundred feet long and had a wing span to match. It breathed a blast of flame into the air as he circled the air above the battle.

"There you are at last." Aashimar said as he landed hard on the ground crushing several goblins and causing the ground to shake violently.

"Handle the monsters first, and then we will kill the giant lizard." Goliath shouted above the noise of the battle. The other gargoyles just nodded and they continued their attacks on the goblins.

"Aashimar, we mean you no harm. We have come only to release the prisoner held on this island by the fates." Merlin shouted.

"The prisoner will never leave here." The dragon responded. "I will give you one chance to leave with your lives."

"If you recognize this then you know who I am." Arthur shouted as he held up Excalibur. "You will let me pass or I will go through you. The choice is yours."

The dragon responded by breathing flame directly at them. Aashimar looked on them in surprise as he saw the blade in front of Arthur cutting the flame in two causing it to go around them. Frustrated the dragon tried to stomp on him but Arthur was to quick and dodged out of the way and when the large foot landed back on the ground he slashed out with his sword and felt as blood poured from the wound and began to coat his sword and hands.

"You'll pay for that mortal." The dragon howled as he went to slash again with his claws.

Goliath and Angela had quickly taken out many of the goblins and they glided over to where it appeared Gabriel and Ophelia were still having troubles.

As they got closer many arrows suddenly came from the goblins on the ground. Angela was able to dodge them as she landed safely on one of the ruined buildings. Goliath was landing as an arrow went through his left wing towards the center. He fell to the ground and lay there unconscious as the goblins began to come towards him.

"Father!" Angela screamed as she dove off of the building, and landed between him and the advancing goblins. Gabriel and Ophelia seeing what happened came over to try and help.

"We need to go. With this wound he can't glide and if we stay down here then we will all die." Gabriel said.

"He's right dear, this wound will slow him down and we really need to move." Ophelia said as she and Gabriel prepared to leave.

"Go then, I'm not just going to abandon him." Angela snarled as she picked up a discarded sword and a mace. "I am Demona's daughter. I'm sure some of that legendary fighting ability is genetic."

"Damn." Gabriel swore as he picked up a sword. Ophelia looked nervous but she picked up a bow and quiver of arrows. They armed themselves just as the goblins caught up with them. As her eyes flared red she slashed through the chest of the first goblin and then twisted around yanking the sword free as she used the mace to bash the head in of a second one. Gabriel blocked a blade that was intended for her neck, and struck the creature in the face with the pommel of his sword. While the creature was disoriented he ran it through with his blade. As he withdrew his blade a goblin with an axe snuck up behind him but before he could swing Ophelia put an arrow through its neck. Seeing the arrow whiz by and then the body he grinned at her and grabbed the axe and charged forward to fight more.

As Angela fought on she felt as if she loved it. Combat seemed to come so naturally to Angela. She was contemplating that as she took the head off yet another goblin.

As the gargoyles were fighting the goblins Merlin raised his hands and fired a bolt of lightning. It went passed the dragon.

"You should know by now mage that I am resistant to your spells." The dragon chuckled as he went to attack.

"You are, but your barrier is not." Merlin smirked at him as he cast the spell again.

"NO!" The dragon shouted as he launched himself at Merlin. Arthur took advantage of the distraction and has the dragon leapt over him he cut deep into the dragon's midsection with Excalibur. The dragon roared as it slammed back into the ground. Arthur charged forward, but Aashimar was ready this time as he swiped his tail flinging Arthur several yards until he crashed into a wall of one of the ruins. Angela saw as he fell to the ground and killed any goblin that got in her way as she ran up to him. Gabriel and Ophelia stayed back to keep Goliath safe.

"You missed this didn't you sweetheart?" Gabriel chuckled as he blocked an attack from a rushing goblin as he spun around and buried his axe in the creature's back.

"No, my darling I have not." She grinned as she put an arrow in the forehead of an advancing goblin.

Seeing Excalibur lying on the ground Angela picked it up and she could feel a surge of power all through her body. Her eyes flared red and she charged at the few remaining goblins and with one swing cut through them all as she turned to each one.

Aashimar went to strike Merlin when the barrier burst open and a knight in shining plate armor rode through on a large white horse that had on matching armor that had been made for it. The only thing visible on the knight was his eyes which were a sea green color. He carried a lance ten feet in length, and he charged using the lance to spear the dragon before he could turn around. The dragon roared in pain as it breathed fire at the knight who blocked it with his shield, and then stood on his saddle while drawing his sword. Seeing an opening the knight leapt off of the horse and using both hands drove his sword to the hilt in the dragon's chest. The dragon fell back onto his back as the knight retrieved his sword and climbed back onto his saddle as he rode up to Arthur who was just rising to his feet.

"You always were a show off, Lancelot." Arthur grinned while retrieving his sword from Angela who was reluctant to part with it.

"I'm surprised to see you here Arthur. After all you had me sent here." Lancelot growled as he raised his visor.

"Yes he did, but now we need your help." Merlin said as he walked up to talk with them. The gargoyles helped Goliath to his feet. His head was still ringing from the blow he took from the rocks when he fell, but he pushed them off of him as he began to walk forward by himself.

"And why would I help you." Lancelot asked as he sheathed his sword and took his lance out of the dragon. The beast is dead, and I finally have free reign of this place I could just live my immortal life you cursed me with and make this place feel like home.

"I thought I could do something similar, but it turned out to be a mistake. If you stay here this place and you will be wiped out by the coming Apocalypse." Merlin said as he looked his old friend in the eye as he spoke.

"It's has serious as that then?" Lancelot was surprised to hear the news.

"Yes it is, I know that we have had our differences in the past, but for the future I am willing to put those aside and complete one last mission with you by my side." Arthur said as he reached out his hand.

Lancelot grudgingly accepted his hand. "What happened to Guinevere?"

"She died of old age two years after her husband." Arthur answered truthfully.

"You let her leave?" Lancelot was stunned by the news.

"After what happened it would have been foolish and harmful to us both if I had tried to make her stay." Arthur sighed as they began walking back to the docks.

"We must hurry back to Manhattan." Goliath stated as he came up to them.

"A gargoyle, so you do exist. I guess I owe Sir Gritch a drink. Too bad he's not alive to collect." Lancelot chuckled as they all waited for Merlin to cast the spell that would take them all to castle Wyvern.

…Luoch arrived at the club an hour before Matt was scheduled to arrive. He went around back where the journal said the meeting should be taking place and hid behind the dumpster while he waited. He didn't have to wait long because as usual Matt showed up early. He watched as Matt walked up to the door and bang on it a few times. Then he stood there waiting as the door opened and Dracon stepped out.

"Matt, Matt, Matt, you told me Macbeth's kid was dead. Now, I hear he's been spotted all over town." Tony said as he snapped his fingers. The door opened again and two of his thugs brought out a girl wearing a thigh length tight green dress. She had brunette hair going down to the middle of her back. The heels of her shoes were absurdly to big and she had fish net stockings held by garters that could barely see the tops of the stockings under the hem of the dress.

"Let her go!" Matt's voice grew cold as he drew his gun.

"Wasn't I good to you Mattie, didn't I let your thieving slut sister here off easy because you agreed to do a few odd jobs for me and she would fuck off her debt. It's a real shame that you didn't finish that last job. Now it seems I will have to kill her." Tony grinned as his thugs drew their guns and pointed them at Matt while Tony aimed his at the girl.

"I can finish it. Just give me some more time." Matt pleaded.

"I think it's too late for that." Dracon laughed as the sound of a gunshot filled the night air.

…"I'm going to enjoy killing that Fay." Death said as the Horsemen trudged through yet another small town. Pestilence was not in the mood to poison the town like he did the last one.

"Hey, Famine there is a school up ahead. You could destroy their food and starve the children." Pestilence chuckled as they continued forward.

"There's no need. Our agent has already created a food plan that they must follow that is already causing the children to suffer." She said grinning at him.

"When we get to the city limits summon your army War and we will strike those beasts down and then I will deal with Puck once and for all." Death grinned at her.

"This vessel will only allow me to summon so many, my love." War pointed out.

"I know, but soon it will not matter, because you will be back in your true vessel." Death said firmly.

"I can't wait…" War sighed.

…Matt's sister flinched at the sound of the gunshot. Then she looked up in surprise to see Tony Dracon fall over dead with a wound to the side of his head. The thugs turned their guns to where the gunshots came from and were surprised to see Luoch come out from behind the dumpster carrying two forty five pistols. One was aimed at the thugs and the other at Matt.

"I'm giving you both one opportunity to walk away. My problem involves the two of them, and no one else." Luoch said calmly as he drew the hammers back. The thugs responded by opening fire. Matt dove behind the wall he was near and Luoch rolled to his side to get behind a concrete barrier. Before Matt got behind the wall one bullet struck his leg.

"Don't hit her." Matt shouted out.

Luoch took careful aim and shot the right shoulder of the thug nearest him and when he moved further out of the way Luoch's second bullet struck him in the forehead. As the first thug fell the second grabbed the girl around the throat and used her as a shield.

"Let her go John, there's nowhere to go. Just give us back Mary and leave. Your boss is dead. There is nothing left for you here." Matt tried to reason with him.

"Not a chance. You'll just shoot me anyway. I think I'll take her back inside and prepare her for my boys. Might as well get some fun outta her before we kill her." The thug laughed as he began to step inside. The thug's attention was on Matt so Luoch pointed his gun, and tried to remember what his father had taught him about precise aiming. He held his breath and closed his non dominant eye and as he lined up the sights with the thug's head he gently squeezed the trigger. The thug and Matt heard the shot.

"NOO!" Matt screamed as he heard it. He then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the bullet travel through one side of John's head and out the other.

Luoch then walked towards Mary to offer any help that she may need as Matt stomped up to them angrily.

"You could have killed her, Luoch!" He shouted.

"But, I didn't." Luoch responded.

"Leave him alone Matt, Thank you for doing that for me." She said as she hugged him.

"I think we should get out of here before anyone comes out to check what's happening don't you?" Matt asked as he began to head back to his car.

"Hold it right there." Luoch said as he pointed his weapon at Matt. "You still shot me in the back." He said angrily.

"He did it to protect me. I know it's an awful thing that he did, but if he wanted you to die he would have shot you in the head." Mary tried to reason with him.

"I know why he did it." Luoch snarled. "But a debt is a debt." He said as he took aim and shot Matt in the shoulder. Matt fell back and Luoch tossed the gun aside. "Now, we are even." Luoch walked up and held out his hand to him. Matt took it with his good arm and stood back up.

"Thank you for not killing him. Matt, I'm sorry I put you in that position. I promise that it won't happen again." They heard sirens approaching the alley then.

"Maybe we should get out of here." Looking at her shoes Luoch quickly lifted her up.

"What are you doing?" Mary whispered fiercely.

"Those are very nice shoes, but you can't run in them." Luoch replied with a grin.

"I think I would like to get to know you more Luoch." She smiled at him as she laid her head on his shoulder as he and Matt fled the alley.


	18. Chapter 17: The Gathering

As Matt, Luoch, and Mary made it back to Matt's apartment. They headed in and Luoch helped her to a seat, and Matt was limping with the shot in the leg and he had limited use of his arm.

"Such a gentleman." Mary said as Luoch pulled out a chair for her and then went to help Matt to the couch. Mary had never known anyone like Luoch. She admitted to herself that she was not angry with him for shooting her brother. If she were in his shoes she would have killed him, because of that and the fact he had saved her life she found herself beginning to admire him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mary was brought back to the conversation as she heard Luoch questioning Matt.

"I panicked." Matt admitted as Luoch dug the bullets out of his wounds. He grinned in satisfaction whenever Matt flinched.

"Dracon's friends will come looking for his killers you know?" Luoch said as he finished bandaging his wounds. Matt looked over at Mary for a moment.

"No way, no way are you sending me into hiding." Mary said firmly as she stood. "I have been through hell for the past three years and I will not add leaving my home to that list."

"It was your own fault." Matt replied.

"He shorted me on purpose and I collected the difference." Mary said angrily as she walked up to him.

"If you're concerned with her safety Matt, she can stay with my parents." Luoch suggested.

"Why would I trust you now? How do I know you're not still seeking revenge for what happened?" Matt argued.

"If I wanted you dead I would have shot you in the head. If I wanted revenge it would have been the mid-section. A gut wound is a much more painful and slow way to die, but no, I simply evened the score." Luoch thought for a second and then added. "Actually, I was in a coma for two years so I let you off light and I bandaged your wounds and carried your sister all the way here."

"It's settled. I will go with Luoch and stay with his family until it's safe to do otherwise." Mary said.

"One question first my lady." Luoch said suddenly.

"Anything." She said as she walked over to him and took his hand in her own.

"Do you have a change of clothes? I wouldn't want my family to get the wrong impression." Luoch said trying to sound as tactful has he could but he blushed a deep crimson as he spoke.

"No, I'm sorry. Dracon took them all. I only have clothes like this now, and they're all at his club." She said miserably.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you out of that sis." Matt said as he came up to hug her close to him.

"Very well, I will buy you some clothes." Luoch said as he grabbed his car keys from his pocket. Matt and Mary were shocked by his suggestion.

"That's too generous." Mary said as she began to blush from embarrassment of what she was wearing as she tried to pull the hem down which only served to pull the already low top lower.

"She's right Luoch you don't need to do this." Matt said as he stood up to shake his hand. "If you do this you better take care of her, or that bullet in the back won't be the last you get from me." Even though Matt grinned he had a serious tone to his voice as he whispered fiercely.

"Of course, and it is not too generous my lady. The truth is it is very selfish of me. I would like to take a lot of your time and shop with you so I can get to know the real Mary a little better." Luoch said as he kissed her hand. Mary thought that she would faint right then. She had never met someone like him before. Matt didn't know if he should feel happy for her or protective, and decided to go with protective for now.

 _You better be good to her, or we will finish what we began._ Matt thought as he shook his hand and received a kiss on the cheek from Mary as they headed out the door. He recognized that look in her eyes. She was falling in love with Luoch. _You better damn well not hurt her._

…Adela walked into the conference room and saw that Hudson had gathered everyone together. She was surprised to see Cold Stone and Cold Fire there. She walked quickly up to hug her rookery sister. Her robotic body felt strange to her, but at that moment she didn't care.

"I'm glad to see you both here." She said as she backed away.

"I received Lexington's transmission." Cold Stone told her. "What's this emergency that he spoke of?"

"We'll go over that in a moment." Adela said as she led them to the center of the room where Brooklyn, Katana, Lexington, Silvara, Hudson who was petting Bronx, Galvanis's Clan, Mary, Justin, Macbeth, and Xanatos were waiting. Adela looked around and looked at Hudson for a moment.

"Did you not talk to Matt, Jason, and Elisa?" As she continued to survey the group she saw Macbeth and Xanatos, and walked towards them.

"I tried to reach them, but I couldn't find either of them." Hudson said as he walked beside her.

"Macbeth, I have been meaning to speak with you about these Horsemen." Adela said as she got close to him.

"Adela, it's a pleasure to see you again. I also wanted to speak to you about them or more appropriately what they are seeking." Macbeth said as he rose to shake her hand.

"What kind of leader brings in humans to try and fix our problems?" Galvanis stated as he came up to Adela.

"One with intelligence." Macbeth said honestly.

Adela pulled Galvanis to the side and when she was away from the others she slammed him up against a wall.

"You forget who I used to be. If you EVER question me like that in front of MY guests again, I will use you as an example to the rest not to cross me." Adela's eyes flared red as she spoke.

"You're not the leader here, Goliath is and he wouldn't approve of this." Galvanis said heatedly as his eyes burned white.

"I am his SECOND now and you will show me the respect I deserve or I will tear your fucking head off and put it on a pike so everyone will know the price of crossing me. Do you understand?" Adela said as she reached her claws up under his chin.

"You haven't changed at all, Demona." Galvanis said angrily.

"DO…YOU…UNDERSTAND!" Adela emphasized each word.

"For now yes." Galvanis said reluctantly.

"Good, now go back over to your clan and wait until I tell you what to do." Galvanis glared at her with hate in his eyes but he walked over to his clan while Adela went back to talk with Macbeth.

"I'm sorry about that interruption. Now, you said you had something to tell us regarding the target of the Horsemen?" Adela asked as Macbeth was arguing with Xanatos.

"Yes, well Xanatos here believes that a few years ago you stole something from his collection. It looks like this." Macbeth said as he handed her the picture of the medallion.

She studied it for a moment, but didn't recognize it. "It doesn't look familiar to me but we can check the collection and see if it is among them." Adela said, but it'll have to wait until after everyone leaves. Before Adela could speak there was a bright flash and a loud popping noise as in the center of the room. As the light faded everyone gasped upon seeing Goliath's group appeared.

Adela rushed up to hug her beloved and when she noticed the Arch-mage she snarled and looked ready to attack. Goliath quickly stepped between them.

"This is Merlin apparently, and he and these two knights have come to help us." Goliath said as Adela stared at him disbelievingly.

"You trust him now?" Adela asked in shock.

"No my angel, we simply have a shared enemy now. If we do not defeat the Horsemen then it will be the end for all of us." Goliath pointed out.

"I am not here to cause trouble Adela. I am here to help and then we will be gone." Adela glared at him, but then hugged Goliath quickly.

"Angela, Broadway has been missing you since you left." Adela grinned at her.

"Oh, okay." Angela said as she stepped aside for Gabriel and Ophelia to introduce themselves to Adela. While Goliath went to speak to Cold Stone.

"So, this is the legendary Demona." Gabriel said as he came up to shake hands with her.

"You've heard of me?" She asked as she also went to greet Ophelia.

"Yes dear, the stories of your adventures reached even Avalon." Ophelia grinned at her. "Is it true you once kept a journal detailing all the humans you killed?"

"No, I'm afraid a lot of things that have been said were exaggerated." Adela said. "Oh, and the name is Adela now." She said as she guided her guests to the table.

As everyone took a seat she went to the front of the room, and everyone quieted down.

"You've all been brought here because the Apocalypse is upon us, and the Horsemen are on their way here." Adela said as she thought of how to word her next statement.

"We have who they want." Galvanis said as he rose to his feet. "We could just give them her." He pointed at Adela as he spoke.

"Galvanis, I need to speak with you NOW!"Goliath said menacingly as he also rose to his feet.

"We should all be able to hear everything. Secrets at this stage will only hurt the cause." Galvanis grinned as he again pointed to Adela. "She is the Horseman of War and they are coming back to claim her."

"This is solving nothing." Arthur stood and walked to the front with Adela. "It would seem to me that we have to deal with this situation either way so we may as well put all of our resources into this."

"Humans have no say here." Galvanis began. Arthur walked up to the big gargoyle and stared him in the eyes.

"The king is correct." Macbeth replied as he attempted to break the tension. "I know what it is the Horsemen need and it is not her. She would be a bonus for them, but the target is a seal to Lucifer's cage."

"Seal?" Galvanis asked.

"Twelve magic talismans hold him inside. The one that is here is the first one. Only the first one can be broken before any of the others so we must protect it at all costs." Macbeth stated.

Goliath walked up to the center with Adela.

"We will gather all our forces. We have three days left until they arrive." Adela said as she looked to everyone in turn. "If we lose that's the end."

"Anymore challenges to my second will go through me." Goliath said angrily as he glared at Galvanas. "We will begin by starting patrols around the castle twenty four hours a day. Gargoyles will take the night while the humans in our group will take the day time hours." Goliath said as he began giving everyone their assignments.

"Elisa, we need you to...Where's Elisa?" Goliath asked looking around.

"She never showed up. Neither did Matt or Jason." Adela informed him.

... "Let me out of here you bitch!" Elisa shouted as she banged against the wall Famine had locked her consciousness in. "I have to stop her somehow." She said to herself as she looked around for any weakness she could exploit.

... There was suddenly a knock at Matt's door. Matt got up to answer the door. As he checked the security monitor he didn't recognize the two men standing there. He grabbed his gun and went to the door.

As Matt's neighbor next door was coming home she opened her door and heard two gunshots so she ducked inside her apartment as fast as she could and called the police.

... "Thank you for buying me all those outfits. You don't have to pay for dinner though, I don't need your charity." Mary said as they walked into a restaurant downtown. She was wearing a bright blue dress that came down past her knees and a pair of blue heels to match.

"You are correct that would seem like charity, so let me do this instead." Luoch said as he held her hands."Mary, will you go to dinner with me this evening? As my date." Luoch asked nervously.

"In that case, yes Luoch. I would love to go to dinner with you." Mary smiled brightly as she came up to take his hand.

They went in and he held her chair for her. As he sat across from her she thought that she had never met anyone like him. She was hoping that it wasn't all a dream.

"I have never known anyone like you. I really hope that this isn't an act to set me up for something terrible." Mary felt embarrassed and blushed just from thinking it. She hoped that she wasn't scaring him away, but she had to know.

Luoch thought for a moment on how to respond as he finished his first glass of wine.

"I can see that you've met the worst sort of people and for that I feel that I must apologize for all of them. I think that I would like to court you long term if I can get to know the real woman underneath all of the pain and mistrust." Luoch said as he reached his hands out for hers which she readily accepted.

"Most guys would just say something sweet to get in my panties." Mary said as she began to tear up.

"I guess I have a different generations standards." Luoch said to her as he rubbed her hands. Just then the food came and they enjoyed the rest of the meal together and when they left they decided to walk down the strip and talk some more.

They passed by a jewelry store and Luoch had an idea. "I want to give you something to remember our first date." Luoch went to head inside when two men stepped in front of them.

"You have a nice looking woman there." The first one who appeared to be very thin and short said as he leered at her.

"Dude, that's Raven." The second guy said as he eyed her up and down. He was taller than his friend and had a large gut. Both men's clothes were dirty and they smelled as if they had not bathed in weeks. "I didn't recognize you with clothes on little slut."

Mary tried to hold Luoch back but he stepped forward.

"Have a care how you speak. She is my lady and I will not abide any insults to her character." Luoch said with a hint of warning in his voice.

"Did he just say he's dating the hooker." One of the men cackled and it was then that Luoch could tell that they were obviously drunk.

"Listen, you two are drunk so I will give you both one opportunity to head home and sleep it off." Luoch said calmly.

"Hey baby." The tall man said walking towards her while digging in his pocket for money. "How much for some quick action for me and my buddy here. Seeing you in that get up has made me hard for you." Has he finished his sentence Luoch struck him in the face so quick that no one could react. The man fell to the floor holding his broken nose as blood poured from it and down his face.

"That was my friend you son of a bitch." The first man said as he pulled out a switchblade.

"Look out." Mary screamed, but Luoch saw him and was spinning around as he brought his foot around and connected with the man's face causing his body to spin around in mid air before falling to the ground.

"What did you do that for?" She asked as the second man got up quickly and ran.

"No man should speak to a lady like that." Luoch replied angrily.

"When they saw me last I was forced to act as if I enjoyed it." Mary said trying to excuse their behavior.

"That's in your past. We should stay focused on your future, and no real man would speak to a lady that way no matter what she is forced to act like." Luoch said.

"We? Even after all the things you know now?" Mary asked in shock. Luoch put his arm around her and held her close as they walked into the store.

"Yes, I already know the history so I won't be surprised. Everyone deserves the opportunity to better themselves. I hope that you will let me be a part of it." She hugged him tight to her and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek only because he turned his head suddenly.

"Do you not want to kiss me?" She asked sounding hurt.

"I do very much, but in public it is not appropriate. Perhaps at the end of the night I could kiss you goodnight." He said smiling down at her.

"Just kiss?" She asked surprised.

"Let's take things one step at a time. You'll find that unlike most men I don't have just one goal in mind." Luoch said as she picked out a sapphire necklace that would go with her outfit. She put it back after seeing the price tag and kept walking.

"i like this." She said as she picked a thirty dollar fake sapphire ring.

"Very well." Luoch said as he paid for it and they left and as he drove her home they talked more to get to know each other better.

As he walked her up to his parents house they stood outside for a moment as she looked at him nervously. He leaned forward and she took the queue and kissed him and to her everything finally seemed right with the world.

"I have an errand to run." Luoch said as she headed inside. "Just make yourself at home. I will be back soon." Luoch left as she went inside and he went back to the jewelry store and bought the necklace she had been looking at.

...Adela, Goliath, Galvanis, and Macbeth went to the collection to look for the medallion. As they were searching Gruoch showed up at the castle to see what she had missed. She still wasn't used to checking her email yet.

Hudson was walking her to the collection as they caught the tail end of the conversation.

"...and this is all that stands between our world and total destruction." They could hear Macbeth saying.

"We will not let that happen." Goliath stated firmly.

"Where are the other eleven?" Adela asked suddenly.

"No one knows. I will pour through the texts and see if I can find them in case we need them. Our best chance is to keep this one safe." Macbeth said as he put it back on its pedestal. Next to it he eyed a journal that Demona had written long ago. _Is that the journal she used to chronicled her violent exploits?_ Macbeth thought as he was placing it back. They all then left shutting the door behind them.

"Is it that serious?" Gruoch asked in wide eyed shock.

"I'm afraid so." Macbeth said as he took her hands in his own. The gargoyles left to give him some privacy while he explained what was happening.

TWO DAYS LEFT!


	19. Chapter 18: Disasters

As the group left the collection the gargoyles began to head to the parapets because it was nearly sunrise.

"Goliath, I need a moment of your time in private." Galvanis said as he waited for Goliath to follow him.

"Go on up my angel I will be there in a moment." Goliath said as he turned to walk towards him. Adela quickly turned him back and kissed him roughly before grinning at him.

"Hurry love, I need you beside me." She said as she walked out with Angela.

"Angela, can we talk for a moment." Adela began as they stepped outside.

"What's wrong mother?" Angela asked concerned.

"I was going to ask you that. I've noticed that you and Broadway appear to be drifting apart again, and I was concerned about you." Adela said as she put her hand on Angela's shoulder as she spoke.

"To be honest, ever since the battle with the dragon I feel like I should be with someone who can fight beside me. With Broadway I always feel as if I would have to defend him, and I guess I just don't know what to do." Angela sighed as she continued on. "He's a nice guy, but sometime it feels as though he's helpless."

"Let me talk with him. I'm sure that it'll work itself out." Adela said as she thought of how to say the next part. "I am and always have been a better warrior than Goliath, but he is smarter than I am and can surprise me with many things I never would have thought of." Adela let what she said sink in for a moment.

"I just don't know what to do. He's sweet and I know he loves me. I just don't know if I truly feel the same way anymore." Angela said sadly.

"You're a lot more like me than I thought." Adela grinned at her. "You need to think about what it is that you want. Yes, there are some warrior gargoyles around like Brooklyn and Goliath but is that truly what you want. There must be something that drew you to Broadway even if you don't know what it is yet." She pointed out. Angela nodded they both walked up to their parapets as Angela was deep in thought.

Unknown to both Adela and Angela at the time was that Broadway heard everything that they said. He sat there for a moment feeling numb and then an idea came to him. _If I can stop these horsemen myself than she will see how strong I am._

… "Goliath, we are the human's protectors. We are not supposed to be having them tell us what to do. They had no right to be in that meeting, and furthermore my clan is beginning to wonder why we spend so much time dealing with human affairs." Galvanis said as they continued down the hall.

Goliath sighed as he thought of the best way to phrase what he intended to say.

"We must let the old ways go. This is a new age and there are so few of us today that we must be willing to work with them for the good of us all." Goliath said as Galvanis thought about what he was saying. "If this truly is the end times then we must help each other or we will not survive what's coming."

"I don't appreciate how your second speaks to me. I am a clan leader and whether she agrees with what I say or not she has no right to threaten me." Galvanis snarled.

"I will speak with her about her diplomacy, but you also need to understand that when I am not here she is the leader of the clan and deserves the same respect." Goliath pointed out.

"I would never give a second the authority to speak to a clan leader as an equal." Galvanis said trying to convince Goliath that he had made an error.

"Then you do not trust your second as much as you should. If they truly are your second Galvanis than they need to be prepared for the possibility of something happening to you in which case they would need to take over." Goliath replied.

"I will consider what you have said, but in return I would appreciate it if she gave me time to acclimate. After all I am not accustomed to not being in charge." Galvanis finally said bitterly.

"I will work on it." Goliath said as they joined the other gargoyles on the parapets just before the sun rose.

"Is everything alright?" Adela asked as Goliath joined her.

"Everything is fine my angel." Then the sun rose as they turned to stone.

…Famine appeared in the stone prison with Elisa. She was wearing a gold dress and her skin looked jaundiced. She had had long blonde hair and bright yellow irises.

"You're not leaving here until we have accomplished our mission. You should be grateful mortal. As one of the chosen you will survive the upcoming extermination." Famine informed her.

"Grateful? You're holding me hostage in my own mind while you plan to exterminate everyone. I will not allow it." Elisa shouted as she unleashed a brutal roundhouse kick however where a human would have been knocked unconscious Famine barely noticed as she stood there glaring at Elisa.

"You do not understand. In your mind you are now powerless so it will be much easier if you just accept that this is going to happen." Famine pointed out.

"Why are you doing this?" Elisa asked as she circled around the Horseman.

"Because it is our destiny." She informed her.

"Who says that it has to happen. You can just walk away and no one would try and stop you." Elisa attempted to persuade her.

Famine thought about that for a moment. "Yes, I could I suppose." She said as she stepped up to within inches of Elisa. "But I am having far too much fun here. For the first time in centuries I am free and I mean to make the most of it." She grinned as she turned to leave. "If it's any conciliation we took your boyfriend to." She grinned as she disappeared from the cell.

 _I have to get out of here._ Elisa thought to herself as she began to strike the walls looking for a weak point.

…Mary turned on the television as she did her morning routine before going to work as she was buttoning up her shirt she froze then grabbed the remote earlier as she turned the volume up to better hear the news.

"And it appears Charles that there are two gargoyles and two humans causing destruction in a straight line that will take them into Manhattan." The reporter was in a chopper and he had the Horsemen on camera below him. In a straight line behind them all of the crops and plants had been destroyed. Many people had fallen ill, and many of those have recently died.

"We're being told that the authorities are now on the way to intercept and detain these individuals." The anchor in the studio said as the picture went back to the reporter in the helicopter.

"That's right as you can see they've setup a task force to take them in. I was informed by the head of this team that they hope to take these people in peacefully, but they are prepared to use deadly force if necessary." The picture cut back to the anchor behind the news desk.

"We will be bringing you round the clock coverage of this incident as it plays out. In other news a cop was found in his apartment in critical condition as there had been an altercation with two men who have been known to be a part of Tony Dracon's illegal activities. Tony Dracon as you all remember was found killed alongside two other men who worked for him outside of his club, and police are still on the hunt for the killers. More on that investigation at seven, so stay tuned to KIXL the best place in the big apple for news and sports. This is Charles Newman signing off."

 _That apartment building looked a lot like Matt's._ Mary thought as she flipped off the TV and quickly finished dressing. When she was finished she grabbed her purse and keys and ran out of her room nearly knocking over Justin who was coming to talk to her.

"I take it you've heard." Justin said as they both rushed to the elevator. Mary just nodded in response as they stepped into the elevator.

"Justin, you work close to the ICU. I need you to get in there and find out what Matt's status is." Mary said as she impatiently waited for the elevator to get to the bottom floor.

"How do you know it's him?" Justin asked as the door opened.

"He's the only cop dumb enough to live in a cesspool like shady acres." Mary said bitterly as they ran to her car and drove to the hospital.

…Luoch came home and quickly went to his room to get some sleep when he found Mary in there. She had fallen asleep on his bed after her shower and she wasn't wearing anything. Luoch blushed as he covered her with a blanket and quietly left the room as he went downstairs to sleep in the guest room.

The next morning while he was reading the paper she came down wearing his robe. _It's a good thing my parents aren't home._ He thought to himself as she came up to him and gave him a quick kiss as she began to fix breakfast.

"How would you like your eggs?" She asked as she took a dozen and a pack of bacon from the fridge.

"You don't have to do that." Luoch said as he looked up at her. She just grinned at him.

"I know I don't have too, but you're my boyfriend now and I love to cook for my boyfriends." She turned back to crack a few eggs.

"Oh in that case I'll take three thank you. Sunny side up please?" Luoch grinned up to her. They talked for a while as they had breakfast.

"Can I be honest?" Mary asked suddenly.

"Of course." Luoch said as he held her hands in his own.

"I feel a little strange that you don't want to use me like most guys do." She said "Don't get me wrong I love that about you, but I'm not used to it." She quickly added.

"I think you have much more to offer than that my lady, and I hope to prove it to you." Luoch said as he looked into her eyes.

"I'm sorry I keep bringing up my history, but last night I was so worried that I had dreamt the whole thing." Mary blushed as she looked up at him. "The feel of a hot shower was wonderful. I feel as though it's been forever since I last had the chance to just relax in a shower." She smiled up at him. "Perhaps, soon you'll join me." She grinned wickedly.

Luoch nearly spit out his milk as Mary laughed. "Perhaps" He said as he coughed a few more times before he finally felt better.

"I understand why you feel as you do, but why don't we just go out to a concert tonight. I've had tickets for a while and I wasn't sure who I would take before now." Luoch said as he checked what his phone notification said. He rose quickly and went to get his jacket.

"Where are you headed?" Mary asked concerned by the sudden rush.

"My friend is in the hospital. Mary, that is Mary Chastain works at the hospital and sent me a message to come quick. You should come with me just in case my parents come home." Luoch said as he began searching for his keys.

"You're worried that your parents won't like me?" She asked worriedly.

"It's not that. It's simply that I want to be there to introduce you to them." Luoch grinned as he helped her find her shoes. As they got to Luoch's room she unashamedly took the robe off and began getting dressed.

"Oh, there they are." Luoch said as he found where she had left her shoes. As he turned and saw her in only her panties he turned quickly blushing as he did. Mary just laughed at that as she finished getting dressed.

"Okay you can turn around now." She said still giggling as he turned slowly and handed her the shoes. They quickly ran to his car and he flipped on his undercover lights and siren as he sped all the way to the hospital.

…As the Horsemen approached a large trailer park they found themselves suddenly surrounded by a dozen cop cars and helicopters flew overhead.

"Get on the ground." One of the cops yelled into a megaphone as they approached.

"Pestilence, I think they could use an adjustment." Death grinned. Pestilence floated up into the air and a green mist floated from his fingers and covered the nearest group of cops. The four cops it reached suddenly began to choke and then began to scream as the other horrified cops and reporters saw their bodies begin to decompose in front of them. They began to make unintelligible sounds and then dropping their equipment they began to attack the other cops around them. Everyone they only bit began to turn as well. The cops tried to shoot them as they attacked but the bullets passed through them and seemed to not affect them.

"Nice touch" War said as she cast a spell to better focus the newly created zombies.

They began to rush the cops as they opened fire. The zombies quickly turned any cop they could reach. Many of the zombies fell to the bullets, but soon they outnumbered the cops and then finally turned all but the last one. She quickly jumped in her car to drive away, but before she could the door was ripped off the car as two of the creatures began tearing into the screaming woman. War made them do it slowly so the camera from the reporter above would capture it all and the humans would all know how hopeless it would be to stand against them. As they walked away from the scene they could hear the woman continuing to scream as they all grinned to each other.

Mary and Justin watched the news at the hospital in horror as they saw what the Horsemen had done.

"And now as you can see below they are using that green mist to turn the trailer park residents. This is the zombie apocalypse people, so we are advising all of our viewers to stay indoors." The reporter said in shock. Suddenly, Death looked up and grinned as he flew up to the helicopter and stared into the camera.

"This is but a taste of what your world will face when our master returns." He said as he went to the front of the helicopter and punched through it. As he pulled out an assortment of cables along with the fuel line it began to crash. The news channel put up a technical difficulties message so it's viewers wouldn't have to witness the crash.

The doctor working on Matt came out to tell Mary about Matt's condition. He had to clear his throat twice to get her attention as she and Justin stood there stunned.

"Oh, yes doctor. How is he?" Mary asked as she sat down with the doctor to discuss it.

"We've taken out the bullets and he is stable for now, but his condition is far from where we would like. So, we are going to keep him here for a few days and monitor his status."

"I understand. Let me know if you need any help. I am available at any time." Mary said as she handed the doctor her card.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary." The doctor said as he got up to leave.

"I was just offering." She sighed as she stood to leave.

"If I need help killing him I'll give you a call." He chuckled until she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and forced him up against the wall.

"We all lose patients. I couldn't do any more than what I did." Mary said heatedly as Justin pulled her off of him.

"Just go Doctor Kent." Justin said as he stayed in between them.

"I will mention your conduct to the board." Doctor Kent said as he left the room.

"What in the hell was that about?" Justin asked as Mary sighed while she sat back down.

"A few years ago, I was working as head of the ER when his wife was admitted with several gunshot wounds. I tried to save her, but by the time she got to me it was already too late. He has never forgiven me for that." Mary said sadly as Justin tried to comfort her.

"How is he?" Luoch asked as he came running up to them with Mary close behind.

"It's not looking good. He's stable, but the doctors are giving him a fifty fifty chance at this point." Justin said.

"How have you been dear?" Mary asked.

"I'm fine." Luoch said angrily as he sat next to Justin.

"Hello, my dear I don't believe we've met. My name is Mary." Mary said as she held out her hand.

"That's my name." Luoch's girlfriend said as she shook Mary's hand. "Matt is my brother."

As they got to know one another they sat and waited for news on Matt's condition.

…As Elisa was about to give up she found a crack in one of the walls. She began to pound on it and it seemed to grow.

 _I need to escape from this room._ Elisa thought as she continued to pound her shoulder into the wall.

…Macbeth and Gruoch arrived home and were about to go to bed when they saw Luoch's note.

"We have to go." Macbeth said as he headed out the door.

"We just got home." Gruoch argued.

"Luoch is at the hospital. Matt is in critical condition. We need to go to offer moral support if nothing else. They both ran to the car and drove off towards the hospital.


	20. Chapter 19: Death Close To Home

As the gargoyles awoke Puck appeared before Adela and Goliath.

"Puck, What are you doing here? You're supposed to be keeping the Horsemen from teleporting here." Adela asked concerned.

"They tricked me. ME!" Puck shouted as his eyes flared green.

"Calm down, and tell us what's happening." Goliath said as he and Adela stepped off of their parapets and headed inside the castle.

"My spell never worked on them. They were always intending to walk here and cause fear in the hearts of everyone. It was a masterful plan, and I was too stupid to see it." Puck said angrily. "It also would seem it was Pestilence who created those creatures we saw before not you." He added as they continued to walk to the conference room.

"What do you mean?" Adela asked. "What creatures?" She reiterated.

"The decomposing human creatures that attacked us when we were in the future or I guess now we've caught up with that vision so now it would be the present." Puck began to ramble.

"Those things are here?" Horror crept into Adela's voice. Puck just nodded. Adela still remembered the smell of the burning bodies from when they were running through the mall as Goliath and Brooklyn were using the flame throwers and how the Elisa of that alternate timeline had been about to die and sacrificed herself to save the rest of them. Very vivid in her memory was the little girl Michelle in her birthday outfit with that bear stuck to her hand. Then she could see plainly them igniting in flame as Goliath burned all the zombies before her eyes.

"Yes, there is about three dozen of them now, but they are quickly multiplying. If we don't stop them then the future we saw will become a reality." Puck said shaking his head angrily.

"Mother, we have a serious problem." Adela said running down to them so fast she nearly tripped.

"What's happened?" Adela asked concerned by the worry in Angela's voice.

"I…its Broadway…He's gone." Angela said as tears flowed down her cheeks as she spoke.

"What do you mean he is gone?" Goliath asked suddenly.

"I…I found this note under a rock on his parapet." She said as she reached the note out to them. Goliath quickly snatched it and began to read it as Adela read along with him.

 _Angela,_

 _I'm sorry that you feel that I am little more than a hatchling. I know that combat is not something I enjoy to be involved in, but I didn't realize that it would cost me your heart._

 _I love you very much Angela, I don't want to lose you so in order to prove to you and the clan that I am a warrior I have left to take on these Horsemen. If I do not return know that I have always and will always love you._

 _Love, Broadway_

"Oh no, he must have heard us talking last night." Adela whispered. Goliath shook his head.

"I will find him." Goliath said as he began to climb up to the edge.

"You can't do that Lad." Hudson said suddenly. "You're needed here. I'll go look for him." Hudson said as he put is hand on Goliath's shoulder to stop him.

"You're needed here as well my friend." Goliath advised him. Hudson just grinned at him.

"No, Lad I've taught you all that I know and you have already become a better leader for this clan than I ever was. You need to be here to prepare for what's coming. If I don't make it then at least I will know the clan is in good hands." Hudson said as he hugged his once favorite second and jumped from the parapet and glided towards the area where the last sighting of the Horsemen had been.

"For both of our sakes lad I hope I get to you before you get to them." Hudson mumbled as he sped up as he dove catching as much wind as he could and propelled himself forward as quickly as possible.

"I hope they both come back unharmed." Goliath said grimly. "I need to speak with you two about your diplomacy and tact."

"What about them?" Angela asked as Goliath handed her the note back.

"The fact that it is nonexistent in either of you and we need to work on that before someone is harmed." Goliath said "If it isn't too late." He added grimly.

"I'm sorry my love. I never thought he would over hear us. I looked to see no one was near when Angela said she wanted to speak out of respect for her privacy. It never occurred to me that he would spy on us." Adela said defensively.

"I never meant to hurt him. I just needed to speak to someone about how I was feeling." Angela said softly.

"Next time try one of the rooms inside." Goliath grinned at them. "I understand that it was an accident, and I will take care of things the best I can. Just please be more mindful in the future."

"We will. I am so sorry Goliath." Adela said as she hung her head low. Goliath lifted her chin to look her in the eye.

"A mistake was made. A lesson was learned. There is no need to worry about it further. What we must do now is plan for the coming attacks." Goliath said as she hugged her tight to him. "Adela, I need you and Angela to do something for me. I can't let Hudson go alone so I will head out after him. I need you two to take over the defense of the castle and the planning in my place." He said as he walked up to the parapet and jumped off and began to glide away.

"I hope you all come back safe." Adela said as she fought back the tears she could feel building up. Angela was not able to fight hers back however as they flowed down her cheeks.

"Don't worry Adela, I will keep them safe." Puck said as he vanished.

"Angela, gather everyone into the conference room. It's time to prepare for war." Adela said as she watched Goliath glide off.

…In the hospital while they awaited news on Matt's condition the news station came back on to deliver more coverage of the Horsemen and their creations. The helicopters kept their distance, but shined spot lights all around to better get everything that was happening on camera. In the four hours since the first zombies were created they quickly turned or killed everyone they ran into creating a sizeable force.

"I never thought that I would say this ladies and gentlemen, but I believe that we are now seeing the end times. Arm yourselves and stay in your homes. That's the best chance you have for survival. Since the first helicopter went down many more from every news studio came out to capture the events on film.

Suddenly a blue blur slammed into a group of zombies and Broadway began to rip into them with his claws. The gargoyle rarely showed his strength however now he was enraged and the news crews and everyone watching the news was shocked to see Broadway.

"A monster has come out of nowhere and has begun fighting with the zombies." The reporter was trying to maintain his composure, but fear was coming through in his voice as he spoke. Broadway hurled a zombie off of him and it burst through a helicopter next to him the chopper burst into flames and fell to the ground crushing a few of the creatures. Broadway was beginning to get overwhelmed. One of the creatures went to bite him when a dagger went through the side of its head.

Sirens could be heard from every direction as first responders were speeding to the scene. The Horesmen who were watching the whole thing saw that with Hudson's arrival they were beginning to push back the zombie horde. Broadway was shocked to see the elder gargoyle could still fight with such ferocity.

"They are going to win you know." War laughed.

"There is no way in hell that is happening." Death responded as he launched himself forward flying directly at Hudson. The move caught the gargoyles off guard and he tackled Hudson to the dirt. Both of them rose to their feet as Broadway charged forward to assist. The camera crews above made sure to capture as much of the action as they could while at that moment the police had arrived.

"Dispatch, this is unit 21. I'm having my men cordon off the area, but we are not getting involved." The police chief said as he arrived on scene and saw the devastation. War saw the blue and red lights coming and grinned as she had half of her army run after the police cruisers. Soon, they surrounded the cars and advanced forward the cops grabbing their shotguns tried to make a run for it as they realized they couldn't drive through the mass of bodies.

"Down this alley, quick." The chief shouted as he shot one of the zombies in the head taking it off, and used the butt of the weapon to knock another one out of his way. However, they soon discovered that more of the creatures were coming from down the alley and they would soon be surrounded by them again. Turning the chief had one last idea.

"Shoot the gas tanks." Much of the horde still surrounded the cars as the six remaining cops took aim and fired. The four cars they had come in exploded creating large fireballs that began to incinerate the creatures. The ones who were not killed instantly ran around wailing as they caught on fire. The reporters recorded it all as the creatures ran around in a frenzy appearing as if they were living torches. The cops died in the act, but they took many of the zombies with them.

Hudson and Death regained their feet and they charged each other. Death found that his arms stopped moving forward as Hudson gripped his forearms and held him still as he tried to take him to the ground. In the Thailog body Death was much stronger than he had been and both of the gargoyles feet dug into the ground as they tried to get the upper hand over each other.

Broadway twisted the head off of the last zombie that was attacking him. Out of breath he saw the battle with Hudson and even though he wanted to help him he knew the other three Horsemen would need to be taken care of so he charged towards War.

Goliath saw the fireball but he was still about a hundred yards away he picked up speed as he dove and hoped that Broadway and Hudson would be alive when he arrived.

Macbeth and Gruoch got to the hospital just in time to see everyone standing by the TV watching the news about the battle. Everyone was stunned and watched in anticipation to see what would happen. They were worried for their friends and prayed that they would come out of this alright.

Lexington came running out of Hudson's room and into the conference room where everyone else was gathering with Silvara close behind.

"Adela, have you seen the news?" At a shake of her head he ran to the TV in the conference room and switched it on. All of the gargoyles sat down in shock as they saw the battle taking place.

 _Please be okay._ Both Adela and Angela thought at the same time. Arthur, Merlin, and Lancelot nodded to each other as Merlin pulled out his globe.

Hudson began to get the upper hand as he began pushing Death backwards when suddenly Death lunged forward as he shoved Hudson backwards. Hudson barely kept himself from falling as a zombie charged towards him too busy dealing with Death he didn't notice the new enemy until it had already sunk its teeth into the elder gargoyles shoulder.

Everyone watching the news broadcast felt their stomach's knot up and tightening in their chest as they witnessed the Elder Gargoyle being brought down.

"C'mon Hudson you can beat that guy." Brooklyn shouted out suddenly.

"I don't know." Lexington said miserably as he held onto an equally terrified Silvara.

As Broadway charged towards War and the cameras turned towards his direction everyone including Broadway was shocked to see Elisa and Jason standing behind Delilah.

"They've been turned." Adela felt cold inside as she saw the way the Horsemen were looking upon the scene there was a sadistic look of satisfaction on their faces has they watched.

As Broadway reached her War just grinned as she used his momentum to flip him and slammed him hard on the ground.

Pestilence and Famine were suddenly knocked to the ground as Puck appeared and struck them with a giant green hammer he created.

"I'm sorry about this Elisa." He said quietly as they got to their feet and he launched his attack.

"Why, hello there." War said gleefully as she stomped on Broadway causing him to moan as he doubled over in pain. He began trying to get up, but War took his feet out from under him again with a quick sweep to the legs. "This is fun. Maybe we should rip him apart and see how long he can stay conscious." She laughed as Pestilence and Famine nodded excitedly at the suggestion as they fought with Puck.

"You won't harm this lovely body." Famine chuckled at him as she gave him a swift kick to the side knocking him to the ground.

"I will do what I must." He said as he began to glow green and floated up in the air.

As Death was about to stomp on Hudson to crush his skull he was struck hard in the midsection by a diving Goliath. Goliath used all his momentum for the dive to deliver the blow and knocked the Horseman to the ground. The arrival of Goliath caught not only Death's attention, but the other Horsemen and the camera crews as well. The gargoyles in the conference room began to cheer as they witnessed him striking Death and in the hospital everyone felt the battle was about to turn.

"I was wondering when you would show yourself." Death said as he rose slowly to his feet. The blow had severely hurt his new body and it would take a little time to recover. More of the creatures turned their attention to the new comer and charged towards him when a blue flash appeared in the street across from Goliath. Coming out of the blue light Merlin fired lightning that forked in all directions killing many of the creatures at one time as Arthur and Lancelot charged forward to attack.

Puck grabbed Pestilence's arm as he swung at him and slammed him into Famine knocking them both back to the ground as he prepared his fireball.

"I think she would rather be dead than have filth like you inside of her." Puck grinned.

Goliath took advantage of the distraction and charged towards Death and as he grabbed him his eyes turned white and he growled as he grabbed the Horseman's head and began slamming it repeatedly into the wall next to them and then he shoved him against the wall as he began to punch him again and again.

Broadway took advantage of the distraction Goliath caused and tripped War causing her to fall to the ground as she tried to get up he kicked her in the face hard causing her to crash back to the ground with a thud.

Puck launched the fireball which completely engulfed the two Horsemen. Pestilence and Famine leapt out of the flames and tackled Puck to the ground.

Death used the last of his strength to knock Goliath back and the gargoyle lost his footing and fell to the ground Death then let out a sharp whistle and the Horsemen suddenly vanished.

Lancelot laughed as he ran through another zombie with his sword before turning just in time to see another charging at him. With his sword still stuck in the first creature he used his shield and knocked the second creature to the ground as he withdrew his blade and used it to cut its head off. Looking around he was disappointed to see that if there were any more creatures that they had scattered.

Arthur using Excalibur had quickly decapitated three of the creatures. One got close and went to bite him but only succeeded in breaking its teeth off on his steel bracer.

"That's enough!" Merlin shouted as he summoned a lightning storm that destroyed the remaining zombies that hadn't scattered and two of the helicopters. The spell took a lot out of him however and he needed to sit back and relax Goliath grabbed Hudson and quickly ran for cover as the helicopters fell to earth and crashed near them.

Everyone watching it on TV felt their heart stop for a brief second until they saw Goliath step out from around the debris carrying Hudson as he walked steadily forward.

"Many of the creatures have escaped I'm afraid." Merlin sighed.

"We will deal with them later. Thank you for coming to our aid. We need to get back to the castle and plan for what is to come. I think we've only seen a portion of their strength here tonight." Goliath said as Broadway and Puck came up to join them. Goliath glared at Broadway as he got close.

"We will discuss this later." Goliath growled as Merlin cast the spell to transport them back.

As the report came to an end and they began reporting something else Macbeth remembered what they had come for.

"How is Matt?" He asked suddenly as he came up to hug his son.

"The doctors aren't sure yet. They are giving him a fifty fifty chance he'll pull through." Luoch said still stunned by what he saw. Then he remembered. "Dad, Mom I know this isn't the best place and time to do this, but since you are here I want to introduce you to my new girlfriend…This is Mary…Mary Bluestone." Luoch said as he stepped aside so she could meet his parents.

"Bluestone…As in Matt?" Macbeth asked suddenly.

"She's his sister." Luoch confirmed.

"It's nice to meet you dear." Gruoch said as she shook hands with the young woman. "Did you shoot Matt?" Gruoch asked Luoch suddenly.

"No, why would you ask me that?" Luoch said as she pulled him to the side. "If you did I would understand after what you discovered, but it is in poor taste to then court his sister." Gruoch said disapprovingly. Luoch laughed at that. "What's so funny?"

"With all that's happening you're focused on this." He chuckled.

"This is serious." Gruoch said as she put her hands on her hips and looked at him disapprovingly.

"No, it really isn't." He grinned as her eyes narrowed. Luoch explained the whole situation. Macbeth came over to see what they were talking about and caught the tail end of the story.

"If you cause any more pain to that poor girl I'll take you over my knee. I don't care how big you are." Macbeth said seriously.

"What kind of monster do you think I am?" He chuckled.

"As your father it is my job to remind you of these things." It was just then that Mary came over.

"It was lovely to meet you my dear. Do me a favor and keep him out of trouble, and you are welcome to stay with us as long as you need until this situation blows over." Macbeth said as he went back to speak with Mary and Justin.

"I'm happy for you both." Gruoch said as she was surprised by a quick hug from Mary.

… Back in the conference room in Wyvern castle the gargoyles all sat there stunned as the broadcast ended. Adela stood and faced the group. She didn't tell any of them that she had seen these creatures before when she and Puck had journeyed into the future, or that she had seen Hudson with a bite like that in that alternate timeline. The only other gargoyle that knew everything was Goliath.

Her look became hard as she thought of how to word what she would say next.

"We aren't just going to stand by and do nothing. We are going to take the fight to them and destroy them all." She said as she glared at the assembled group.

"That's not your call to make. We should wait for Goliath." Galvanis began.

"I might have a plan to take out these things." Xanatos said suddenly. Everyone turned towards him as he walked forward. "I designed this building remember. All we have to do is lure all of them here and use the last resort protocol and that would destroy them all and possibly these Horsemen as well."

"And what is this last resort?" Galvanis asked suddenly.

"We blow up the building." Xanatos said as he stared directly at Adela ignoring the other gargoyle leader.

"Goliath would never allow this." Galvanis said.

"If we use it as it is meant to be used it could work. They will be heading here for the medallion so we could surprise them." Adela said thoughtfully. Just then the room lit up bright blue as Merlin's portal brought the group back home. Galvanis, Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway immediately took the unconscious Hudson from him and carried him to one of the rooms.

"Xanatos, call Mary and tell her we need her help." Goliath commanded just before Adela leapt into his arms.

"I was so worried about you." She said as she kissed him roughly before he set her back on the ground. She then told him of Xanatos's plan.

"We can't destroy our home." Goliath said with a note of finality.

"That would not be our first choice, but we may not have any other options when they get here." Adela said as she tried to persuade him.

"We will see what happens, but I do not want to lose this castle it's all we have left." Goliath pointed out.

"I also hope it doesn't come to that, but it may be necessary." She said as she let him wrap his arms around her and hold her close to him as they went to check on Hudson. Adela was worried, because she knew what the bite would lead to. The infection was already growing around it.

"Can you do something to heal him?" They could hear Arthur asking Merlin as they walked in. Merlin shook his head as he gave Arthur a look to say he's dead already.

Everyone left to let the elder gargoyle rest except Adela.

"Just give me a moment my love." Adela said as she closed the door behind everyone. Adela sat next to Hudson as he began to open his eyes.

"I feel awful like Bronx has been kicking me all night." Hudson said and began to cough as he reached up to his sore shoulder.

"We need to talk old friend." Adela said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

…The alarms blared in Matt's room. The doctors rushed in and ordered everyone to leave the room as they began trying to resuscitate Matt.

"Please Matt, please don't die on me. I need you." Mary whispered as she stood there and watched the Mary Chastain, Justin, and the other doctors scrambling to save him.

Goliath went back to check on his angel and found her crying over Hudson. He walked closer and gasped as he found Hudson's knife buried in his chest. Adela looked up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks and it broke his heart to see her like that. He tried to ask what happened but the words wouldn't come out.

"I told him about those creatures and how they infect us. He asked me to not let it happen. I begged him to reconsider, and that we would try and find another way but he took the dagger and placed it in my hands and begged me to not let him turn." She said as she shakily rose to her feet and began crying harder as she hugged Goliath to her as tightly as she could as he rubbed her back right in the center of her wings which always helped her to relax in the past.

Ten minutes after the alarms went off in Matt's room. Mary and Justin along with Doctor Kent came out and announced that the worst has passed and he would just need rest, but they would keep an eye on him overnight to be certain.

"Why don't you two head home. I'll stay here with Mary." Luoch said as he put his arm around her and she leaned next to him and smiled up at him.

"He's going to be fine." She said happily as she kissed him as Macbeth and Gruoch left to go home and get some sleep.

…The Horsemen gathered the rest of their zombies and Pestilence created more from a housing development they discovered close to Xanatos's building.

"Tomorrow night. We end them once and for all." Death snarled as War, Pestilence, and Famine nodded in agreement.


	21. Chapter 20: Dealing with Loss

All of the gargoyles gathered in the courtyard as Goliath carried his old friend and mentor to the pyre he had built in the center. They watched as he laid him gently onto it.

"I don't know what to say my old friend." Goliath said as looked to the crowd for some kind of inspiration. Has his eyes roamed the crowd his gaze coincidentally landed on Adela and Angela which gave him an idea. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"We as gargoyles traditionally never put much stock in family. When you were born you belonged to the clan, your position was earned through many different contests. We were bonded yes but mostly to keep our numbers growing. I say that to say this. We have come a very long way and Hudson led the charge to make these changes possible. Hudson taught us all so much that I can't begin to cover it all here, but I will say that he was the best leader I could have hoped for and has a mentor his knowledge was invaluable to us." He paused as he began tearing up, and he tried to continue but couldn't find the words. Adela came up to him and hugged him as they both just stood there for a moment finding comfort in each other.

"It's now up to us to show that we've learned from his example and that we will all come together and build for the future and that is why with the impending war will combine the two clans here and include Gabriel and Ophelia until they go home." Adela said as the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves.

"You can't do that! I am the leader of my clan and I am not going to give it up." Galvanis protested.

"And no one is asking you too." Adela began.

"With a merger of this size the leadership will continue as it is now, however doing things this way will allow for all of us to work as a single unit rather than two separate groups. So, if anything our responsibilities would double not lessen. " Goliath pointed out.

"What if I say no?" Galvanis sneered.

"Then you may feel free to leave, because if we cannot work together than you will be nothing but a hindrance." Adela stated plainly. "On your own or with us, I think your odds are better with us."

"Very well, we will work together for now however if I don't like where things are going I reserve the right as a leader to do something about it." Galvanis said as he walked up to Goliath as they shook on the agreement.

"Of course, while we're here we still lead our own clans, but if situations arise where you or I and our seconds are gone then the other leaders will take charge. It's a quick an efficient method and it will bring us all closer together which we need now more than ever. I think Hudson would approve. Goliath said as the three gargoyles lit the torch as a sign of unity and together they lit the pyre.

Gabriel and Ophelia walked up and shook hands with all three of them.

"Thank you for inviting us into your clan while we're here. You're correct working together as a unit will help us to defeat our new enemies." Gabriel said as he watched the pyre burn along with all of the other gargoyles. Soon, they all began talking to each other in little groups as they shared memories of the elder gargoyle.

The gargoyles talked with eachother until nearly sunrise and they completed the last part of the tradition. They all surrounded the pyre with the highest ranking gargoyles in the front and the lowest ranking in the back with the exception of mates being allowed to stand together. When the sun rose as the fire died down all of the gargoyles turned to stone which signified that they were escorting Hudson to the other side.

…In the hospital Mary had fallen asleep and she was leaning against Luoch for support as he had his arm around her. He smiled down at her. _She's so beautiful_ He thought as he brushed hair out of her face. Then he had an idea and grabbed a small wrapped box out of his pocket and placed it in her hand. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. Then she noticed the box in her hand.

"What's this?" She asked as she began to unwrap the box. Luoch watched her and was happy to see her eyes light up as she ripped the paper.

"Happy birthday." Luoch said as she pulled out the sapphire necklace he had bought her.

"I completely forgot that it was." She smiled up at him as he put it on her. "You didn't need to spend that much on me." She said with a worried look in her eyes.

"I wanted to. In the last few days you've become very special to me. With everything that is going on I may not get another chance and I dislike rushing things, but now I am sure." Luoch said as he got down on his knee. He pulled out another small box and he looked at her with nothing but love in his eyes as he began to speak.

Mary began to shake. She was in shock and could not believe this was happening. After the last three years she had written off ever having a happy life and now it seemed that everything had changed. Then she began to panic.

"I now know that I love you, and my heart will always belong to you. Will you marry me?" Mary stared at him for a moment.

"I can't…I'm sorry." She began to cry as she sat back down and held her head in her hands. He took his seat again and looked at her concerned about what was happening.

"Did I say something wrong?" Luoch asked as he began to hold her. She shrugged out of his arms.

"I said no, now please just leave. I will wait for my brother by myself." She said angrily. Feeling humiliated and rejected Luoch threw the box in the trash next to his chair and got up and left without giving her another glance.

 _I knew he wanted something from me. He wants to own me just like everyone else_ she thought bitterly as she felt the tears building up.

…"What are you doing home so early? Is Matt okay? Where's Mary?" Gruoch asked as she answered the door and let Luoch in. It looked like he had just walked home in the rain.

"She ended our courtship." Luoch said plainly.

"What happened?" Gruoch asked as she led him to the couch. As he sat down he looked blankly at the wall as he told her the story. "Perhaps she just got scared. A lot of women feel that way especially when it's been such a short time." She sighed as she hugged him tight to her. "Don't give up on her yet." She advised as she got up to check on their dinner.

…Back at the hospital Matt walked out of his room. He had to use crutches, but the doctors said he could finally move around on his own. He noticed his sister crying miserably as he walked up to her.

"Why all the tears sis? I'll be fine." Matt chuckled as he sat next to her.

"I broke up with Luoch." She said softly. Matt just shook his head as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm going to be honest with you Mary. You are a dumb ass." He stated as she looked up in surprise to see him holding the now open ring box.

"Why would you say that? You know what I've been through." Mary snapped.

"Yes, I do know. I know better than anyone." Matt said standing up. "Dammit, Mary how many guys would ask to marry a hooker." Mary glared at him as she rose quickly and slapped him.

"How dare you?" She asked shaking with rage. Matt just stepped closer.

"Tell me sis, how many guys have treated you like a human being? Was that your problem with him? Would you prefer he treat you as he would his pet?" She slapped him again. This time so hard he nearly fell over, but he just sighed and looked at her for a moment before he continued. "It's your life. Do what you want. I will just say that if you continue this path you will be a lonely woman living on her own and probably turn back to the same life you had with Dracon." Matt said as he threw the box down in one of the seats and got up to leave. Mary grabbed the box again and began looking at the ring as she thought of her options.

Mary sat there long after Matt had finished filling out his exit paperwork. When Matt returned she was holding the box and staring at the ring. A voice sounded throughout the hospital through the communications system warning everyone to stay inside, because a mob had formed outside and was trying to break in.

"We've called the police and they are on their…" The voice suddenly cut off and they heard a lot of glass breaking and strange guttural sounds coming from the speakers before the system went silent.

"Matt, what is that sound?" Mary asked as she got close to him.

"I don't know, stay close." He replied as he drew his gun and began to search for the nearest exit. As they headed down the hall they saw what looked like a zombie running down the hall perpendicular to the one they were walking down. The creature turned and looked at them and began to run at them as blood dripped from its lips from a fresh kill a few minutes earlier.

"What is that thing?" Mary asked has Matt stepped in front of her. Before the creature reached them he shot it three times twice in the head and once in the chest and it fell to the ground.

Matt tossed the crutches aside and limped forward with Mary following close behind. They heard people screaming down the hallway and Matt began to turn to the right.

"We have to help them." Mary pointed out.

"Their already dead. I need to get you out of here now." Matt said as they continued walking towards the exit.

They saw three patients lying on the ground. Mary thought she would be sick when she saw that much of their bodies at been shredded and eaten.

..."Luoch, quick turn on the TV." Gruoch yelled as she saw a live report regarding the zombies at the hospital.

 _What is she going on about?_ Luoch thought as he turned on the TV and switched to the news.

"Oh, no...Mary." He was shocked to see the hospital he had been in was completely covered in zombies.

"Do you see this?" She asked. She sounded as stunned as he felt. Luoch didn't answer. He was already grabbing weapons and when he was armed he rushed to the car as Gruoch got into the passenger side.

"Mom, I need you to stay here." Luoch began.

"Tough, I'm going." Grouch grinned at him. "Unless you plan to escorting me back inside."

Luoch gritted his teeth as he put the car in gear and sped off.

...Matt and Mary made it close to the exit when they came across Justin and Mary Chastain.

"I'm so glad to see you." Mary said as she came up to hug Matt. "These creatures killed three doctors before we knew what was happening."

They suddenly heard an explosion from the floor above then the lights went out as Matt's sister got as close as she could to her brother.

"Shit!" Mary said angrily.

"Don't worry I have a flashlight." Matt said as he took it out of his pocket and turned it on.

"No, she's upset because the exit down this hallway requires electricity to open." Justin sighed as they all turned around and slowly made their way down the hall.

The generators flipped on and the emergency power came on as the hallway filled with red light.

"What about this power? Matt asked as he continued back down the hall.

"No, we need the main power to work the door." Justin sighed deeply as he looked around nervously as if something would jump out of the shadows. As they reached the end of the hall they looked around and made sure nothing was coming before they turned right.

"That could be useful." Matt said as he drove his elbow through a display case and then pulled an axe out from it. He handed it to Justin as they continued down the hall. As they continued walking they could hear screams and moans that seemed to come from all around them.

As they walked through a hall they heard a loud banging coming from one of the check up rooms. Justin and Luoch prepared to attack anything that could come through it as the girls quickly threw open the doors.

As soon as the doors opened, four zombies attempted to rush towards them. Matt fired at them as they charged forward. the first zombies head exploded as it was struck by Matt's bullet. The second one fell to the ground. He missed the third as Justin swung his axe and took the head off of the third one.

"Justin, watch out!" Mary his old friend watched helplessly as the last of the creatures leapt on Justin and began to bite into him before Matt could take its head off with his final bullet.

Justin kicked the body off of him and accepted Matt's hand as he helped him up.

"Thanks" he said as he let the girls bandage his wounds as Matt searched the room for any more of the creatures.

Mary went to check on her brother while Justin talked to his friend.

"I'll go out with you when this is over." Mary said as she finished bandaging Justin's arm. He just grinned at her as he tried to stand. His arm felt unusually warm but he decided to keep that to himself for now. _I can deal with an infection later._ He thought as they continued into the room.

They walked forward about a hundred yards before they came across the hallway leading to the main exit. Someone had smashed through it with an ambulance. Has they got closer they could see the driver hanging out of the door. It looked as if a wild animal tore him to pieces. Several cars outside had caught fire and bodies littered the street.

As they slowly made their way past the ambulance they were careful not to step on any of the bodies. They saw one man leaning up against a truck, he was shaking and making strange sounds.

As the man lifted his head and looked at him they could see that what was in his hands was the half eaten arm of the woman who was on the ground at his feet. Mary Bluestone nearly became sick at the sight of it. Then it dropped the arm and charged towards them. Justin stepped forward to swing his axe and the xombie ran around him ignoring him and running after the rest of the group. Justin turned to attack not understanding why the zombie didn't attack him. Just before it could reach Matt and his sister Justin buried his axe in the back of the creature and it fell to the ground in front of them.

They all began to run forward as a horde of zombies that were feeding from a bus suddenly began pouring out and came after them. Before they could reach them however Macbeth leapt off of his hover bike to land in front of the group. He was wearing a flame thrower and was using it to melt all the zombies that came up to him as Justin took care of the few that made it past Macbeth using the axe.

Macbeth's flame thrower began to run out of fuel with many more zombies coming towards him. He drew his sword and pistol and turned to face the remaining creatures.

Before they could reach him Luoch's car slammed into a few of them ripping apart several of them as Gruoch and Luoch got out of the car and opened fire on the remaining zombies with their automatic nine millimeter pistols.

Macbeth cut the head off of the one that reached him first and used his pistol to shoot the second one in the head as he spun around using his sword to cut a third horizontally in half.

"We're going to make it." Justin was surprised as his long time friend kissed him in celebration. "Why did I wait so long to do that?" She grinned as the Macbeth family finished destroying what was left of the creatures. Then they all blocked in the doors for the hospital using some of the other cars so any creatures still inside couldn't escape.

Mary ran up to Luoch and gave jumped into his arms. Luoch was surprised by the change towards him and barely caught her in time before they fell.

"I love you so much, please forgive me." She cried as she held him tight to her and kissed him roughly. "I want to marry you if you'll still have me." She gave him a worried look as she waited for him to answer. He smiled at her and kissed her again as his parents began to applaud them and Matt came up to congratulate them.

Justin began scratching at his arm because the burning began to get worse and it even began to itch.

"Are you okay?" His long time friend asked as she came up to him and kissed him. "Should we celebrate their new engagement, or maybe just go back to my place?" She gave him a wicked grin as she put her hand in his as they walked over to congratulate them before they left.

Mary took the ring from her pocket and gave it to him so he could put it on her finger. She shook with excitement as he did, and after the engagement was official they all decided to go home to celebrate.

"I'm very happy for you." Gruoch said as she looked in the rear view mirror of the car at the happy couple in the back seat.

 _I just hope we can stop these zombies from creating the future I remember._ Macbeth thought as he drove back to the house.


	22. Chapter 21: Beginning of the End

Macbeth's group arrived back at the house and Gruoch and Mary went right into planning for when the day would happen.

"Ladies, you do know we have a situation to deal with before we begin preparing for a wedding." Macbeth chuckled as he turned on the news. They were re-running the story from the night before and added footage of the attack on the hospital. He flipped off the TV in disgust as he tossed down the remote.

"Oh, Macbeth shush and let us have our fun." Gruoch grinned at him as she continued to flip through the pages of a magazine she got out to show Mary.

"I'm has excited as you are, but we need to stay focused." Gruoch sighed as she closed the magazine and glared at him for a moment.

"Our only son is getting married. Would you please let me enjoy this?" She said angrily. "Speaking of our only son, since we have gotten our youth back when are we going to try for another." Macbeth began choking on his beer and had to cough several times before he could answer.

"I…I didn't know you were thinking of it." Macbeth answered honestly.

"I would really like to try again soon. Please consider it." She said as she went back to studying the magazine with Mary. She was grinning widely knowing he would give her what she wanted.

…"You were supposed to draw Macbeth here and kill him so he won't interfere." Death said menacingly as he walked up to Pestilence in the hospital parking lot.

"It would seem he is harder to kill than I thought he would be." Pestilence said as he surveyed the damage. One remaining zombie crawled out of an upstairs window and came to the edge of the roof to leap down. Death looked up and the creatures head twisted off of its shoulders as the body then fell to the ground.

"You have six hours before we attack the gargoyles. I want him dead before then." Death said as he vanished.

"You really are pathetic little brother." Famine chuckled as she looked over the damage to the hospital.

"Little? I'm the same age as you." Pestilence grinned "Besides, it's better than wiping out crops." He laughed as she snarled at him and they disappeared as well.

War took out the dragon statue and twisted it. It flashed a few times and then there was a large explosion from inside the hospital the flames engulfed not only the hospital, but all of the surrounding buildings for two blocks in every direction.

She walked out of the flames as she smiled wide while observing her handiwork. _Soon, I'll have Demona back and be whole again._ The other Horsemen didn't know it, but while War was inside her mind she had found herself falling in love with the willful gargoyle warrior.

"If I could make her a Horseman I could have her forever." She grinned as she too disappeared.

…Justin sat down on Mary's couch. He didn't know what was wrong, but the burning seemed to be travelling up his arm and he began to sweat like he had a fever. He got up as he began to feel sick and made his way to the bathroom. He felt as if the floor was sliding out from under his feet as he walked, but he slowly made it.

"Mary, do you have any antibiotics?" Justin called out.

"I think I have some on the top shelf. Be careful though I keep it here for patients." Mary shouted back from the kitchen. _I hope he feels better I would like to talk some more with him tonight._

She heard a thud in the bathroom and ran to see what happened.

"Justin, did you drop something?" She asked as she got to the doorway. "Justin!" She yelled as she saw him lying on the floor with a needle in his arm. She noticed how much worse his arm looked and how far up the infection had traveled. "I have to do something before it reaches your brain." _Doesn't Macbeth have a Cryo machine?"_ She thought as she picked up the phone and dialed his number.

… "So, I was thinking that a June wedding would be beautiful if we could get the gargoyles to let us use the castle for it." Gruoch and Mary had spent the last three hours planning the upcoming wedding.

"I think that looks great what do you think darling?" She looked over just in time to see Macbeth and Luoch about to walk out the door.

"Where are you going? I thought we were planning our future." She said as she got up to walk to him.

"We are." He said as he gave her a quick kiss. "We just got a call from Mary…The other Mary." He added after a moment. "Justin has collapsed and she needs our help dealing with an infection." Gruoch looked at Macbeth questioningly and he just nodded his head. She turned visibly pale at the confirmation.

"Very well, you two go ahead and deal with that and leave the planning to us." Gruoch said as she beckoned for Mary to sit back down next to her.

They arrived at Mary's apartment and rushed out of the car to help her with Justin.

"He's already gone." Macbeth said looking at him sadly.

"Don't you say that!" Mary shouted. "The infection has not yet reached his brain. We can do this."

"I wasn't saying we won't try." Macbeth said as they finished loading him into the backseat.

"I don't understand. He was fine when we last saw him." Luoch said as he sat next to Justin and kept him upright.

"Those things create more of their kind through some kind of virus that's passed on through their saliva." Macbeth informed him. "Once the infection reaches the brain he won't be Justin anymore and we will have but one choice." Macbeth said as he sped to his laboratory. "Mary, you should know now that we have never found a cure for this."

"I will find it." She replied as she stared out the windshield trying to will the car to go faster. They had to swerve around a horde of undead that were walking towards the Xanatos building as the Horsemen flew above them along with ten of the gargoyle clones. As they passed by the horde they went into the alley and then into the laboratory.

Luoch get him into the cryo unit I have to go. He said as he grabbed a flame thrower, a rifle, an automatic pistol, and sword.

"I'm going with you." Luoch said as he helped Mary carry Justin to the cryo unit. They laid him inside and he started it up, and they watched as the glass fogged up and the body seemed to grow pale as it was entering suspension.

"Keep everyone safe until I return." Macbeth said as he put on his old trench coat and sped off on the hover bike.

"Dad!" Luoch shouted as he ran to the door. "You can't do this on your own." He yelled, but Macbeth was already too far away to hear him.

"Grab one of those flame throwers." Luoch told Mary as they grabbed several weapons before getting back in the car.

"Where did you get all of these weapons?" Mary asked as she began to calm down.

"My father has been preparing for the undead to return for the past five years. He said this would happen, but to tell the truth none of us truly believed him." Luoch sighed as he sped back to his house. "We need to get my mother and drop you off at the house."

"The hell you will." Mary said as she loaded a magazine into one of the pistols, and slid the bolt forward. "If you lose we all die. I'm not just going to sit and wait."

"I need you to stay with my fiancée. I'm worried that there are more out there and that she could be in danger." He pleaded with her as they got back to the house.

"Fine, I will stay with her, but I'm taking these." She said as she grabbed three automatic pistols and a rifle. She ran into the house and soon Gruoch came out wearing her battle gear which consisted of her black leather trench coat and sword. She was also carrying a pistol on her hip.

"That was fast." Luoch grinned at her.

"Not really. Your father called me from the hover bike on his way to the castle." Gruoch replied as she whistled upon seeing the weapons he had packed in the back seat. "Are you sure we will need all of this?"

"I just hope it's enough." Luoch stated grimly as they drove to the castle. "By the way you do realize that he doesn't want us there." He chuckled at the irritated look on his mother's face.

"He'll just have to get over it." She said in a tone of voice that Luoch knew better than to argue with.

…Back at the castle Arthur, Merlin, and Lancelot came out to see what was going on as they heard loud thuds on the ground outside. As they ran out they saw The Horsemen land along with the gargoyle clones they brought with them. The thuds came from the bricks they had knocked from the wall has they flew in. Upon seeing Merlin War backed up a few steps.

"That's him. That's the human who tricked me when we were last here." War snarled.

"There's no need for name calling." Merlin grinned at her as he cast his lightning spell and watched with satisfaction as several of the gargoyle clones were struck.

"We need to keep them busy until our friends awaken." Arthur said as he drew Excalibur and Lancelot slid his visor down and drew his sword.

"You're out of your league now. We didn't come alone." Death grinned at them as suddenly dozens of the undead creatures reached the top and began to rush forward.

It was then the stone shells among the gargoyles began to crack and then finally burst open. They were all shocked by what was happening below them but Goliath quickly took charge.

"Galvanis, I need your group to handle any undead you come across. Adela, you and I will take on the horsemen with assistance from Broadway, Brooklyn, and Katana. Lexington, you and Silvara get to the rookery and get Drake, Sion, and Amelia as far away from here as you can."

"How do we handle these undead?" Galvanis asked as they watched Merlin shoot a firebolt into the crowd of zombies as the three continued to back away from the horde.

"You see how high we are." Goliath grinned.

"Yes, but what does that have too…oh." Galvanis replied suddenly understanding.

His clan dove down and began picking up one creature at a time and began dropping them to the ground far below.

Goliath's group leapt to attack the Horsemen. Goliath tackled Death to the ground as Adela landed in front of War.

"It's time to join me again. You know you were never as content has you were when I was in your mind." War said as she stepped closer to her.

"You don't know anything about me." Adela growled as her eyes flared red.

"Lie to yourself if you want, but I was in your head. You can't lie to me." War grinned at her as she stepped within inches of her. "You are mine."

Famine leapt to attack, but Brooklyn landed in front of her, and blocked her path.

"Oh, good. It's the weak one." Famine grinned just before Katana landed behind her.

"Don't forget about me." Katana grinned as she drew her blades.

Pestilence didn't get the chance to react because Broadway grabbed him and slammed him up against the wall.

"Remember me dirtbag?" Broadway asked as he quoted one of his favorite lines from a movie. "Give us back our friend." He growled loudly as he bared his fangs.

At the same time Angela landed behind War as her eyes also flared red.

"You're not taking her anywhere you bitch." She snarled.

... "Don't you see? I have to go back and help." Fox pleaded for the hundredth time with Titania.

"Oberon wants you and Alexander to stay here until the crisis has passed." Titania explained again patiently. "Besides you have seen how that husband of yours has behaved in your absence." She chuckled. Foxes eyes flared a bright green and grew brighter the more upset she got.

"I will DEAL with him when I get home. You have no right to keep us prisoner here." She shouted as a fireball appeared in each of her hands.

"I will not fight you my daughter, but you see what has been going on. We don't want you and Alexander to be hurt." Titania said almost pleadingly.

"I don't want him to be hurt either. He will stay here, but I am leaving to help my husband, then tear him a new one, then work out our issues because that's what married couples do." She sighed and then grinned at her mother. "You should know that already."

"If I help you you have to swear to me that Alexander will stay here and you will come back and visit when this is over." Titania finally said reluctantly.

"I swear I will if I can bring David this time. I think all of the time we've been apart lately caused some of what happened." Fox stated as she and Titania began to cast a portal that would take her to where Xanatos was preparing his steel clan. _Not that I won't slap him around a little for it._ She grinned as the portal opened.

"Please be careful." Were the last words Fox heard before she stepped through the portal.

... "Oh, shit!" Luoch cursed as he a zombie that had been tossed from the roof nearly crashed into his car.

"Oh, my god." Gruoch exclaimed as she looked at the building. Climbing the building seemed to be thousands if not tens of thousands of zombies.

"How do we get in there?" Gruoch asked as she looked for the entrance.

"Hold on." Luoch stated as he floored the gas and slammed the car through the entrance of the building. Leaping out they quickly used the flame throwers to kill a few of the zombies that broke free from War's control because of the distraction. "C'mon the stairs are over here." He shouted as they began to run.

..."You are nothing to me. You will give us the seal." Death said as he slammed Goliath into the ground. "I'm tired of asking. Give me what's ours now." Goliath swept Death's feet out from under him and leapt on top of him and began to punch him repeatedly has his eyes shined a bright white.

"I will destroy you, and all your kind." Goliath growled menacingly as he stood lifting Death and threw him up against the wall and used his claws to continue his attacks.

Adela grabbed War's arm and swung her around. Angela close lined her as she got close causing her to fall to the ground. She quickly knocked Angela's legs out from under her and leapt to hers.

"You will be mine again." She said as she waved her hand. The ability should have thrown Adela into the wall behind her, but she didn't move. "That damned mage." She shouted as she went to attack.

Broadway was having troubles of his own just as it seemed he had the upper hand Pestilence kneed him in his mid-section and delivered an uppercut at just the right time striking him under his chin knocking the large gargoyle onto his back.

"You're lucky that the mage is able to block our abilities. I could have a lot of fun with you." Pestilence chuckled.

Brooklyn and Katana had stopped their attacks, because Famine appeared to be having enough trouble on her own. Inside her mind Elisa was beginning to get the upper hand as she tackled Famine and began punching her repeatedly. On the outside her body just fell to the ground as Brooklyn barely caught her. He laid her up against the wall and waited with Katana to see what would happen.

"What do you think is going on in there?" Katana asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but if anyone can beat these things it's Elisa. I just hope she does." Brooklyn sighed frustrated that all they could do was wait.

Galvanis's clan landed and had begun helping Arthur, Merlin, and Lancelot deal with the zombies. Merlin had to keep most of his focus towards keeping the Horsemen contained, but was able to help with minor spells to take on the undead.

Macbeth set his hover bike to auto pilot and leapt off as he landed next to the group and used his pistol to kill two of the creatures that ran at him. Twisting around he stabbed one that came close to him and out of the corner of his eye he saw one lunging towards him. Cursing because he realized it would be too late he began twisting around just as he saw Excalibur stab through the creature from behind. Before long the knights along with Macbeth and Merlin had a pile of corpses lying around them as they continued to fight on.

"This reminds me of our final battle together. Only our foes then were a little more lively." Lancelot chuckled as he stabbed through another one and turned to deal with the next one.

"That is true, but the stakes now are so much higher my old friend." Arthur pointed out.

...Watching as news cameras were picking it up live Xanatos made the final preperations for the last resort protocal and turned it on. In ten minutes the castle and the building it was on would be nothing but a pile of rubble. Suddenly there was a green flash in the center of the room and Fox stepped out.

"Good evening my husband. I think it's time we had a chat. Don't you?" Fox grinned as she walked closer to him.


	23. Chapter 22: Sacrifices

Lexington and Silvara landed on a rooftop two blocks away which according to Xanatos should be out of the blast range. As soon as they got the hatchlings inside Lex turned to leave.

"Where are you going love?" Silvara asked concerned. Lexington thought of the best way to respond.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. My clan could be dying and I need to be there to help." He said as he climbed to the window.

"What about us? I need you here." Silvara pleaded with him. Lexington looked at her helplessly. "The hatchlings need us." Lexington sighed as he closed the window and came back to them. The truth was that Silvara could take care of them herself, but she was terrified that if he went he would die.

"Oh no… Where's Drake?" Silvara asked suddenly as she was checking on the hatchlings.

"I thought he was right behind Sion." Lex replied.

"He…was, but…I'm sorry…I couldn't talk him out of it." Sion stuttered as she stared at the floor.

"Talk him out of what?" Silvara asked angrily.

"He…um…went back…to um…help his parents." Sion reluctantly admitted.

"What?" Lex and Silvara roared. Lex got up and ran to the window. Silvara grabbed his arm and kissed him quickly.

"Please be careful and come back to me." Silvara pleaded with him before he glided away.

"You're just in time dear. We were…" Xanatos didn't get to complete his sentence because with a wave of her hand Fox flung him into the closest wall.

"It's good to see you…" He was interrupted again as she slapped him hard.

"I know what you've been doing." Fox said as she slapped him again.

"Okay, I know I've done some things I shouldn't have, but do you know how long you've been gone. I thought you had left me." David stated as she put him back down on the ground.

"So, instead of checking with me you just revert to your old disgusting self." She replied heatedly.

"How would I do that? Did you finally find a way to get signal on Avalon?" He asked sarcastically.

"Alright, I can see that maybe I have spent far too much time away. If you swear to me that you are going to straighten out your behavior then I can swear that I will be here more often." She sighed as she hugged him and kissed him roughly. "I missed you." She said as she held him for a moment. "What was I just in time for?"

… "Goliath!" Adela screamed as Death slammed him through a wall as they both fell to the ground below. War grabbed Adela by the hair and slammed her head into the ground. Dazed Adela rolled over and quickly kicked War off of her causing her fall back into Pestilence.

One of the zombies jumped towards Angela and knocked her to the ground. She was struggling with it to stop it from biting her, but it was getting closer. As it was about to sink its teeth in a laser knocked the creature off of her. She looked up to see Fox and Xanatos standing in the middle of the courtyard.

"I thought you were bringing the steel clan to help us." Fox whispered as she punched a charging clone knocking it unconscious. She looked over and threw a fireball that blew apart a group of the zombies.

"They're evacuating the two blocks around this tower. Then I'm going to blow it." Xanatos said as he fired a missile at the remaining clones and when it exploded several of them fell from the roof.

As Adela knocked War off of her she jumped off the roof and dove down to find Goliath. Just as she dove Lancelot saw Arthur get knocked to the ground and he leapt to attack. He quickly took the head off of the first zombie and then flipped the blade around and ran through the second creature. He turned to face the third one, but Merlin froze it and watched in satisfaction as it shattered on the ground. Merlin and Lancelot helped Arthur to his feet.

"We can't win this fight." Merlin said as he pulled out his globe.

"We can't just quit the fight." Arthur said angrily as he wiped the blood from his face that was coming from a deep cut on his forehead.

"We're getting out of the blast radius and then that Xanatos will blow up the building." He said as he cast the spell to teleport them away from the castle.

Suddenly bursting through the door Luoch and Gruoch started up their flame throwers and began to burn all the zombies they could until the fuel ran low.

Brooklyn and Katana realized that they couldn't win and were about to leave with Galvanis's clan as Goliath had ordered when Xanatos made the announcement that they had five minutes remaining before the building would explode.

As Adela got near the bottom of the tower she saw Death coming up to her fast. Feeling rage completely consume her she slammed into Death and began punching and clawing at him as he tried to fight her off, but she seemed to be everywhere at once.

Goliath barely grabbed a ledge and hoisted himself up with one arm because the other had been broken by Death during the fall. Just as he was about to try and climb back up he saw Adela and Death plummet past him. Goliath dove off of the building after them, but before he could reach them they slammed into the car below them.

"Drake, come back here. I need to get you to a safe place." Lexington shouted as he glided as fast as he could after him. One of the steel clan saw them and mistaking them for the clones opened fire on both of them. One of the blasts struck Drake in the chest and Lexington was hit on his right wing. Drake began to fall to the ground. Lexington quickly dove to catch him as he attempted to ignore the excruciating pain in his wing while the robot took aim again.

Pestilence and Famine had taken the opportunity provided by the distraction the zombies provided to break into the gargoyles collection.

"Do you hear that?" Famine asked her brother. They both stopped to listen for a moment.

"It may just be the creatures. Let's just grab what we came for and get out of here." Pestilence said as he searched through the treasures. "Is that bitch still causing you trouble?"

"It's fine let's go." She said as she grabbed the medallion and headed for the exit. They heard growling and then Bronx jumped into the room and knocked Pestilence down as he attempted to rip his throat out. Suddenly the gargoyles dog floated in the air and his body twisted quickly to the left and his head to the right. They heard a sickening snap and a yelp from him before War dropped him unceremoniously to the ground.

"Come the mage is gone and his control over our powers has diminished enough for us to get out of here.

Goliath landed on the ground and ran for the car just as it exploded knocking the gargoyle back to the ground as some of the shrapnel from the car struck him in the chest. He laid on the ground struggling to get back up.

As Lexington caught Drake the pain in his wing caused them to nearly crash, but he managed to barely miss the building they were headed towards. The robot was about to fire again when Angela landed on its back and used her claws to tear its head off. She leapt off of it before it exploded.

"Give him to me." She ordered as she got close to them. He handed her over thankfully as his wing began to hurt less with less weight on it. "Go back with Silvara. I will bring Drake to our parents."

Broadway having followed War down was horrified to see what they did to Bronx. Feeling the rage burn in his blood he rushed forward. He quickly tackled War to the ground and slammed a mace he found on one of the pedestals in Pestilences face and turned his attention back to War as he fell to the ground. Famine fired her spores at a velocity that knocked the big gargoyle off of War and has she stood the three horsemen turned towards Broadway.

"Taking on three of us at once? That's very brave, but also very stupid." War chuckled as she stepped closer to him. "You're fortunate I don't have enough time to truly work on you." She grinned as she stabbed her claws into his mid-section. "Maybe, we should take you with us. I would love to tear you to pieces myself. The fat ones always scream the loudest."

Macbeth had the hover bike hover close enough to jump on.

"Luoch, Gruoch come on we have to go." He said as they ran to him. Several of the creatures attempted to leap on them as they ran. Macbeth shot many of them as they got close. Gruoch quickly leapt onto the bike behind him and opened fire on the zombies that were coming for them. They were about to be overwhelmed when David fired missiles into the crowds. He was careful not to strike Luoch and when an opening was big enough He dove forward and grabbed Luoch's arms as he lifted him up and followed Macbeth's bike away from the castle.

An image of War appeared in Luoch's mind. _You should have minded your own business. Did you really think leaving your woman at home made her any safer?_ As they landed Luoch ran to the hover bike and began to take off.

"Where are you going?" Macbeth asked as he was just getting off of the bike with Gruoch.

"I heard a voice telling me that Mary is in danger." Luoch said as he started it again.

"It may just be in your mind." Macbeth pointed out.

"Either way I have to know." Luoch replied as he turned the throttle to full speed and jetted away from the rooftop. Macbeth and Gruoch ran down to the cars below. As they got down stairs they found that their car had been smashed by one of the fallen clones.

"C'mon." Gruoch said as she grabbed Macbeth's hand and they both ran to a corvette that miraculously wasn't hit by any debris or creatures. Gruoch began to hot wire it as Macbeth jumped into the passenger side.

"When did you learn how to steal a car?" He asked as she finished and hit the gas causing the car to speed down the road back to their house.

"When you work for Xanatos you pick up a thing or two." She stated matter of factly as she ignored the sour look on Macbeth's face.

At Macbeth's house the girls were watching the news of the battle taking place at the tower when suddenly the power went out.

"Don't worry, I think Luoch has a flashlight here somewhere." Mary said as she searched through the drawers in the kitchen. Mary chastain took out her lighter and lit it for light to help her search.

"What was that?" Mary asked as she flipped around just as she found the flashlight and flipped it on. Mary Chastain took the flashlight and pulled out one of her pistols and handed it to Mary as she walked down the hall while drawing her own. As they approached the back of the house they saw that in one of the bedrooms the window had broken and lots of glass was lying on the ground.

"What did that?" Mary asked as they began to search the room.

"I'm not sure." Was the only reply. Suddenly, first one and then two zombies came crawling through the broken window. They cut themselves on the broken glass but didn't seem to not notice even though they began bleeding profusely from their wounds. Mary screamed as they turned to run and the window in the room opposite of them exploded sending glass everywhere and two more zombies came in through the window. She was horrified to see how decayed these creatures were. It seemed as if they rose from their graves.

Mary Chastain opened fire on the two creatures that she was facing then they ran to the front of the house as they heard more windows break and even more creatures coming in. As they approached the door it was torn down as a group of the creatures smashed through it and ran towards them. They both stood back to back and opened fire on any creature that came close. They headed back down the hall as Mary killed all of them coming at her while Mary Chastain was taking care of the ones from behind them.

They arrived at the bathroom on the right and quickly ran in and slammed the door shut. Mary grabbed the cabinet inside and wedged it against the door. Mary Chastain screamed in pain suddenly. Mary turned to see that one of the creatures was standing in the shower and had used its claws to tear into her chest while it was trying to bite her. She quickly shot it twice in the head killing it instantly. As soon as it was dead she came up to check on her. _Thank heavens. She didn't get bit._ She breathed a sigh of relief as she began to bandage the woman's wounds and sat there with her as she aimed her gun at the door waiting for them to break through it.

Due to the loss of blood Mary Chastain passed out. Mary propped her up against the top as she finished the bandages and grabbed her gun and sitting on the toilet next to her new friend she waited for the door to open and for them to be overrun and killed.

Brooklyn and Katana arrived at the rooftop everyone was supposed to meet at and rushed forward to help Goliath as he fell to the ground after climbing up the fire escape. They saw that everyone was there except Broadway, Angela, and Adela.

"Where's Angela, What happened to Adela?" Brooklyn asked as he was checking to see who had made it from the castle.

"Where's Broadway and Fox?" Katana spoke up suddenly.

"Couldn't...save...her." It was just at that moment the others saw tears flowing down Goliath's face. He got himself to his feet and walked to the edge of the roof and stared down at the still burning car.

Katana hugged the gargoyle as she felt the loss as well as she and Adela had become good friends over the past few years.

"Has anyone seen Angela?" Goliath asked in a strangled voice. Everyone's heads went down as they shook their heads. Goliath leapt up onto the ledge and was about to glide back to the castle as it blew up. The destructive force leveled two blocks on either side has Xanatos had predicted. The shockwave however knocked everyone off of their feet and destroyed the windows of any car and building within one block past that.

Goliath got back up and ran back to the ledge. His fists balled up as he surveyed the destruction.

"I'm sure they made it out." Brooklyn tried to sound confident, but his voice broke as he spoke.

"You don't know that." Goliath said miserably as he looked for anything moving.

"Goliath, I know that this is a bad time, but we need to make sure that the seal is still intact." Arthur said.

"Just give him a moment..." Katana began.

"We don't have a moment. If that seal breaks we need to know and we need to know now." Arthur said. His voice softened as he continued. "We will get these bastards and we will destroy them my friend. You have my word that we will destroy them all."

Goliath was thankful that Drake had survived and was safe with Lexington, but the loss of Adela and Angela would plague him forever.

"Hey Goliath, look there." Goliath looked where Brooklyn was pointing and saw an exhausted Angela land on the other side of the rooftop. Goliath rushed up and hugged both her and Drake close to him.

"What happened? Why is he here?" He asked referring to Drake.

"He kind of wanted to practice flying and got away from Lexington and Silvara." She replied honestly. "Where's mother." She asked looking around at the assembled group. "Where's Broadway?"

"They didn't return..." Goliath began but couldn't get the words out. Angela was too stunned to speak. She always thought that she would have a lifetime to build her relationship with Broadway and now it seemed that fate had taken it all away from her. She began to cry uncontrollably as Katana caught her and kept her from falling over.

"It'll be alright dear. I'm sure that they made it out. We just need to find them." She said trying to sound comforting as she held the weeping gargoyle close to her.

It was then they noticed that Ophelia was sobbing over Gabriel's body. He had many bites all over him and she had killed him by his request to keep him from turning.

"Tonight, we took some casualties, but tomorrow night we bring the fight to them and we crush every single one of them." Goliath growled as he spoke of getting revenge.

"What about Elisa and Jason?" Brooklyn and Angela asked simultaneously.

"They are now to be considered casualties of war." He said with a note of finality as he went to help Ophelia along with Angela.

 _I know your hurting Goliath, but you can't mean that._ Brooklyn thought bitterly.

Back at Macbeth's house the zombies had nearly torn the door down as Mary aimed her guns and prepared to fire. Suddenly, there was a green flash and many howls. She heard the creatures making shrieking sounds and then it was suddenly quiet. Then the door burst open and she fired...

...Puck stared at Mary for a second. "It's a good thing I had my shield up." He grinned at her. "Now, come with me if you want too live...Wow, that sounds much cooler when your the one saying it."

"Look out!" Mary shouted as a creature that Puck missed was coming up behind him. Puck's eyes flared green and the creature turned to dust.

"Are you two coming?" He grinned and Mary was shocked to see Mary Chastain stand up and look around confused for a moment before they both nodded and followed him out of the bathroom.

As they walked into the living room three of the creatures that just entered the house rushed the three of them. Puck grinned and waved his hands and watched in satisfaction as the zombies were ripped in half he tossed the six halves of the bodies to the side of the room as they went out the front door.

"Can't you teleport us away from here?" Mary Chastain asked as she shot one of the creatures that came from the neighbors yard.

"I will, but something is keeping me from doing so. We just need to get about a block away where I teleported in that we can get..." Puck was interrupted as Luoch arrived followed moments later by his parents. Luoch stopped the bike and ran to Mary. Mary was excited and ran up to meet him. As he reached her he hugged her tight to him as they kissed deeply not caring who saw them.

"I was so worried about you." Luoch said as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"I'm okay. Thanks to him." She said pointing at Puck.

"It's nice to see you again Puck. Thank you for saving my fiancee." He said as he held out his hand to him. They turned as they heard two gunshots behind them just in time to see two zombies fall over dead.

"Run, C'mon, there are many more coming." Macbeth shouted as they ran and climbed into the car. They looked behind them and saw many more creatures running through the neighborhood, and begin to chase them.

The gargoyles and their human companions all went to the abandoned apartment that Lex and Silvara had hidden in.

"What are we going to do now?" Angela asked as everyone gathered together.

"We fight! And we get our REVENGE! I swear on Adela and Broadway that I will not rest until those creatures are destroyed.

"I will not either." Ophelia said as she stood next to him.

"I know I said that attacking would be fool hardy but now I believe that is exactly what we need." Galvanis said.

"This will be our war council Arthur, Merlin, and Lancelot stepped up to take their places among the group. They all found a very large table and sat around it as they began to plan their next move. _I wonder if it is merely coincidence that it is round._ Arthur thought to himself in amazement as he stared around the table at the new war council.


	24. Epilogue

The war council held an honorary ceremony for Broadway, Bronx, and Adela. As Goliath lit the pyres Angela was concerned about his emotional state. His eyes were completely devoid of emotion. She would have expected anger, loss, sadness, or anything would be preferable to this soulless stare that Goliath wore now.

"Father, please you need to let us help." Angela said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "I know that she would want you to move on with your life."

"She's not dead." Goliath growled angrily.

"I wish you would stop saying that and let us help you." She replied angrily. Goliath sighed as he thought of what to say.

"I would know if she were dead. Since our souls were joined we could feel each other. I didn't think about it before, but now I realize that I am feeling her still. I have searched the wreckage over and over and I cannot find her." He sighed as he looked at her while trying to phrase the next sentence just right. "Until we find her I am promoting you to second in her place."

"Me? Are you sure? I mean what about Brooklyn?" She asked as she couldn't believe her ears.

"Brooklyn would not do well trying to re take this position. The situation is much different now and I need my best warrior to be second to me. Has of now while Adela is missing that is you." He pointed out as he got up to leave.

"What will we do now?" She asked as he began to walk away.

"We took it easy on them because of the innocents they inhabited. We will not make the same mistake again. I want you to train everyone including the hatchlings to not just win a fight, but how to kill without mercy." Goliath ordered coldly as he left the room.

 _Mom, if you're out there. He needs you back now._ Angela thought to herself as she went to discuss the new plans with Brooklyn and Katana. She decided that night to make Katana her advisor due to the fact she could keep a level head in any situation.

…Standing on the rubble of the castle Death rubbed the medallion that she had dug from the rubble. Looking up at the sky her eyes went white and she grinned showing her fangs as she snapped the seal in two.

"One down, eleven more to go… There's nothing they can do to stop us now." She laughed as her eyes went white and she walked away to prepare to hunt down the other seals.

 _Soon master. Soon you will be free._ With that thought she flew off to join the other horsemen.

Goliath sat on the roof of their new hideout and rubbed his palm. _Why is this still shining? I thought that when she died it would go dark…_ Goliath thought irritably. Everytime he looked at it he thought of her. He went back inside to check on Drake. The laser hadn't hurt the hatchling badly and he was recovering from it at a rapid pace.

Has he did for the past three days he sat in a recliner that he found and took out Adela's song that he had scrounged from the destroyed castle and began to hum to himself and Drake as he read it.

Unknown to him Angela watched them every night, and every night she swore that she would make the Horsemen pay for destroying her family.

 **To Be Continued!**


End file.
